Chronicles of the Chosen One: Prisoner of Azkaban
by padawan lynne
Summary: As Harry enters his third year, he finds himself fighting the Ministry of Magic in an attempt to clear his wrongfully convicted godfather. Dealing with Dementors and werewolves makes Harry's third year more challenging than he ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Summer Begins.**

As Harry and his friends entered King's Cross station, they ran into a rather large problem known as Vernon Dursley. Harry started struggling as the large man led him to a car which had the rest of his relatives in it. Hermione ran to her parents, who had arranged to drop Harry off at Sanctuary as Kiara was in the middle of organising things for Harry's return and subsequent incarceration (as Harry called it). Sheryl and David quickly made their way over, only to be left in a cloud of dust, as the car sped away. Hermione let out a moan as her friend disappeared. She then turned to her parents.

"Sorry, Mum, Dad, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Master Lyn that we lost her padawan," she said. Her parents turned slightly green before agreeing that the best thing to do would be to call Kiara and tell her what happened. That settled they got in their own car and drove home.

Harry in the meantime was thoroughly annoyed and also rather bruised. His "uncle" had practically thrown him in the backseat and his cousin, Dudley, who Harry thought was going to die of a massive coronary one day soon, was busy seeing if he could get him to react by basically pinching, punching or even kicking him. Fed up, Harry turned and snapped

"Cease that immediately!" He then closed his mouth in horror.

"Sheesh', he thought. 'I open my mouth but it's my master that pops out. Oh, the shame.' To his relief, though, Dudley did cease hurting him.

When they got back to Number Four Privet Drive, the place that Dumbledore had dropped him off at so long ago, things got steadily worse for Harry. He stared at the place that his master had told him about, and then at the people she had saved him from. He was even gladder that he had grown up with Kiara, for although she could be strict at times, she did love him, and made sure she showed it.

'I wonder what I would have been like if I had grown up here' he thought as Vernon (Harry refused to call him Uncle) Dursley grabbed his arm and hauled him inside.

"Now see here boy," Vernon started, "we've been told to take you in by that freak of a Headmaster at that freak school you go to, so there won't be any complaints. He told us to get this Jedi nonsense out of your head so we will. No funny business with either that stick of yours or any hand waving. You're no Jedi and you'd do well to remember that."

Harry seethed in rage but he controlled himself, remembering what Anakin had taught him just before term ended. Kiara had agreed to the lessons, and would teach him how to control the bond, while Anakin taught him to detach his emotions. He breathed deeply, feeling himself calm as he released his anger to the Force. Looking up he met the bully's eyes, before asking, still calmly, "Where am I to sleep then?"

Harry was shown upstairs to what could be described as a prison cell, There was bars on the window, a small bed was in the corner, the floor was bare and there were seven different locks on the outside of the door. Harry stared in disbelief before he was shoved through the door and it was shut behind him. As he sat down he heard the sound of the locks clicking into place and felt grateful that Hedwig always flew ahead to Sanctuary at the end of each year. He then snickered when he imagined Hermione and her parents having to explain to his master exactly what had happened. Poor them.

Hermione and her parents had indeed had a bad time explaining what had occurred. At the end of it, they were treated to the very alarming sight of a Jedi Master on the warpath. She told them to stay at Sanctuary and then started rummaging through her desk. Pulling out several legal documents, she tucked them into her robe pocket before turning to grab the Floo powder. Before she could leave, Hermione asked a question.

"Umm, Master Lyn, where are you going" she asked rather timidly. Kiara seemed different from when she'd met her before. That Jedi had been relaxed and easy going, now she was purposeful and determined, with an aura of power around her that said quite clearly "Don't mess with me." Kiara turned to Hermione and smiled slightly before answering.

"First I'm going to the Ministry to file official charges against Dumbledore, and then I'm going to implement Operation Jedi Rescue," she said. When confused looks were sent her way she sighed and elaborated. "I'm going to get my son back. Harry thinks of me as his surrogate mother, no matter what he calls me. The feeling is mutual. He's my padawan, yes, but he's also my adopted son. I won't leave him with those people any longer than I can help it." Growling slightly she stepped into the fireplace and vanished from view.

"I almost feel sorry for Dumbledore," Hermione said distantly. Her parents looked at each other, silently agreeing.

While all this was going on, Harry was experiencing the worst time of his life. The Dursleys made no effort to show him any kindness and only grudgingly allowed him to use the bathroom when he needed it. He sat back on his bed after the latest trip, hungry, and wishing he'd eaten on the way back from Hogwarts. He idly wondered what was happening, and wondered whether Hermione had survived the experience of informing his master of his kidnapping. He chuckled softly, Kiara would never hurt Hermione, but she could be scary when annoyed. He looked up as Petunia entered, some sort of drug and a syringe in her hands. He had no time to try and pull away, as Vernon and Dudley, who had entered behind Petunia, restrained him. He felt a sharp sting in his arm, and then blackness rolled over him. His last thought before losing consciousness was that his master was not going to be happy that he had allowed this to happen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Operation Jedi Rescue**

Kiara strode through the halls of the Ministry of Magic, heading for the Head of the DMLE's office. Walking through the door, she placed the documents that she had previously had in her pocket on the desk of a very surprised Amelia Bones.

"What are these and why exactly did you come to me instead of one of the Aurors?" she queried, slightly shocked to have a Jedi walk through her door. Her questions were answered a minute later with a growl.

"Those are binding legal documents proving my adoption of Harry James Potter and also the registration of our relationship as Master and Apprentice. As to why I'm here I wish to file a formal charge of orchestrating a kidnapping against Albus Dumbledore".

Amelia gasped when she heard this, now she knew why Potter's master had come to her, she wanted powerful people to handle the case and make sure that Dumbledore couldn't talk his way out of it. Picking up the folder, she examined it, noting that the adoption was legal in both the Muggle and Magical worlds. The official apprenticeship she also noticed had started when Harry was eight. Looking up she enquired about the early start.

"Most Jedi Padawans are apprenticed anywhere between eight and thirteen although there are rare cases of being chosen as young as five," Kiara began. "Harry had started to show signs of powerful Force abilities before then, along with powerful magic, so it was in his best interest to start training him as early as possible. I actually started him on learning to meditate at age four, although I didn't start the physical aspects of training until around age six. He has grown up knowing me as both his master, and his adoptive mother. He knows about his real parents, and what happened to them, but in his mind, my role as his master is inextricably linked to that of his mother. It's natural in a way, considering I raised him, but that's an explanation for another time. Are you going to help me or not?"

Amelia raised an eyebrow and enquired about the nature of the kidnapping. Upon learning of the details, and learning that Kiara had taken Harry from the Dursleys when he was one, as Dumbledore had ignored Harry's parents' will, she was furious.

"What do you plan on doing, exactly?" she asked, very curious to know if the Jedi Master was going to make a political incident out of this.

Kiara smiled grimly. "I'm going to retrieve Harry and I would appreciate it if there was something you could cook up that would stop Dumbledore having any access to Harry except under strict conditions." Amelia looked thoughtful for a minute before smiling.

"I believe I can arrange something, wait what's the matter?" Kiara had just turned pale and collapsed into the chair that resided in front of Amelia's desk. Kiara looked up and gasped out "The bond with Harry, it's gone, I can't feel him. He's still alive, it's not broken like it would be if he was dead, but he must be unconscious or something. I have to go." Getting up she raced out of the office, intent on only one thing, retrieving Harry and putting the fear of God into the muggles that had dared hurt him.

Later that evening, people looked out of their windows on Privet Drive to see a very oddly dressed (by their standards) person, walking down the driveway of No. Four. This same person stood in front of the front door and appeared to be thinking. Having made up their mind, the person then walked round the side of the house and disappeared from view. The neighbours shrugged and went back to their TV viewing.

Kiara waited until darkness had fallen, before acting. Walking round the front again, she unlocked the door, using the Force to help her. As she did so, she remembered Master Mace Windu saying that if she ever left the Jedi she could make a vast fortune as a jewel thief, given her affinity for opening locks. Slipping inside she quietly closed the door. Stretching out with her senses, she determined that the Dursleys were all asleep. Smiling in satisfaction she extended the Force and made sure that they would stay asleep, at least until their normal waking times the next morning. She then used the Force to make them tell the Muggle Child Protective Services people that would come later the next day, exactly what they had done to their nephew and also what their opinion of him was. She had made a brief stop to the relevant department before coming to Privet Drive in order to organise the visit. Grinning, she began her search for Harry.

First she checked the ground floor. Nothing. Then she ascended the stairs, and immediately saw the door with seven locks on it. All of them faced outwards. Seething quietly, she realised that this was where Harry must be kept. Smiling grimly she pulled her lightsaber and slashed all the locks on the door. Opening it, she saw Harry lying on the bed, apparently asleep. Checking him she frowned, he seemed OK physically so why couldn't she feel him in the Force? Her question was answered a minute later by a sleepy Harry.

"Master?" came the rather slurred voice from the bed.

Kiara smiled in relief, Harry never was a morning person so this half asleep state soon after waking was normal for him.

"Yes, Padawan, it's me. What do you think about getting out of here?" she asked.

"Sounds good to me. Master, I can't feel the Force, Petunia injected some sort of drug while Vernon and Dudley held me down. I couldn't escape, I tried but, all of my things including my wand were locked downstairs and they took the Force away, I couldn't do _anything_". As he started silently crying at the feeling of being helpless, Kiara hugged him, whispering that it wasn't his fault and she wasn't mad at him for something he couldn't control. At last the tears slowed, then stopped, and Harry immediately fell back to sleep. Kiara snorted quietly in amusement, though she was relieved that Harry felt safe enough to fall asleep again. If he hadn't felt safe he would have fought to stay awake with everything he had.

'At least I now know why I can't feel him in the Force' she thought. 'Those people drugged him with a Force suppression drug. My poor Harry, it will take a while to work out of his system, he'll be blind to the Force for at least tomorrow, maybe the next day as well. Damn Dumbledore!'

Picking him up she was shocked to find that Harry wore little more than rags. Walking downstairs she saw the remains of charred fabric in the kitchen and frowned, realising that the Dursleys had burned Harry's clothing. Unlocking the cupboard under the stairs with her mind, she saw the rest of Harry's possessions. Smiling to herself she remembered the summer at the start of second year and the way Harry had complained about not being able to use his hands when moving things with the Force. What she was doing now was a perfect example of why that training was necessary. Carrying Harry, she had her arms full, so she used her mind to levitate the trunk and open the front door. Walking out of it she closed the door behind her and then apparated to the Granger's house. Knocking on the front door she enquired if she might use their Floo to get Harry home. Receiving permission, she Flooed both Harry and herself, not to mention his trunk back to Sanctuary.

Carrying Harry upstairs tired her a bit more than it otherwise might have. Adrenaline from the conversation with Amelia Bones, and relief at finding Harry alive and OK, even if he was temporarily Force-blind, had taken its toll and she now wanted to sleep like Harry was doing. Walking into his room, she used the Force to move the covers back and then laid him down, taking off his shoes and socks first. What he was wearing would do well enough for nightclothes tonight and they could get rid of them in the morning. Leaning down, she covered him back up, and then kissed his forehead, amused that Harry leaned into it like he had when he was younger. Smoothing his hair down she left the room, heading for her own room, where she hurriedly changed before dropping into bed and almost immediately falling asleep. Plans for Dumbledore's soon to come incapability of seeing Harry except under strict conditions swirled round in her brain but none were acknowledged as Kiara gave herself over to a deep, dreamless sleep, happy in the knowledge that her padawan was now safe and back where he belonged.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Conversations and Ideas**

Harry was indeed Force-blind for that day and the next one as well. The drug used had been a powerful one and Kiara took the opportunity to explain the workings of various Force suppression devices and their effects on a Jedi. Harry turned white and was almost sick when he heard that if the Force suppression was kept on long enough there would be permanent damage to said Jedi's Force connection. Kiara was quick to reassure him that that wasn't going to happen to him, the dose used had been too small and only extended periods of suppression like a few months, would be enough to do permanent harm. After that Harry relaxed and went back to his homework. Having finished it in record time, he asked permission to have Hermione check it for him. He couldn't have her over because he was still grounded for the first two weeks of the summer, but his master didn't have any problem with him Flooing Hermione to hand over his homework.

Hermione on the other hand very nearly fainted when she heard that Harry had finished all his homework and wanted her to check it over. Teasingly she suggested that she would poke very tiny holes in it, only to laugh in triumph at Harry's agonised expression and growl of annoyance. She, as well as her parents, and Kiara were very amused to hear Harry's pained exclamation of "Hermione, I spent almost all week on that lot, don't make me rewrite it all. I double and triple checked it myself; I just want a second opinion."

Hermione did check it and sent it back; saying that it was excellent and she couldn't find any fault in it at all. Very pleased with himself, Harry threw himself into his emotional detachment exercises, which were actually becoming easier now that he had apparently got over his Hermione addiction. He still loved her but he no longer needed to see her everyday and he had lost that overwhelming need to protect her from everything. His master was extremely pleased with this and said so.

"Harry," came the call from the lounge as the Padawan tried to sneak upstairs for a shower. Resignedly he turned to go back down.

"Yes, Master," he said, walking in to find Kiara sitting on the couch. He was surprised when she patted the seat next to her, inviting him to sit down.

"I know you need to shower but I want to say something before you do," she started. "I'm very pleased that you've regained your rationality regarding Hermione, and I'm willing to start letting her come over again to see whether this newfound control will hold up in her presence. Do you think that it will?"

"Yes I'm sure it will," Harry said confidently. "I still love her, I can feel that emotion so powerfully its almost like a miniature sun inside me, but it's also controlled, banked up. I love her but I don't think it will overwhelm me again, nor impair my judgment when it comes to anything hurting her. That question you asked me at the end of last year, the answer's changed. I would continue the mission now, Master, it might hurt to leave her but I'd do it." He looked down, unhappy at the thought of having to leave Hermione yet knowing that what he said was true, he would do it if he had to. He felt his master's arm tighten round him, and he leaned into the embrace. They sat like that for a minute before he found himself abruptly pushed off.

"Eww, Harry go and have a shower now, you stink," Kiara laughed, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Harry grinned before tackling her and hugging her tighter laughing at her efforts to detach him. He then felt phantom fingers running their way down his sides and he let go as he started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Stop it, stop tickling me, all right I give, let go, stop it, I'll go shower, ahh," he yelled as he ran for the stairs. Kiara smiled and watched him go before grabbing the Floo powder and Flooing the Grangers, arranging for Hermione to come over the next day. She had decided to relent a little, Harry really had been working hard at detaching his emotions and really, how was she supposed to teach them to communicate through their soul bond if Hermione wasn't in the same room as Harry.

The next day, Harry got a surprise when Hermione Flooed into Sanctuary. It had been a week and a half since the end of term and he hadn't expected to see her until the weekend at least. Very shocked he looked questioningly at Kiara, hardly daring to believe that Hermione was actually there. His master laughed and ruffled his hair.

"You've worked extremely hard on detaching your emotions regarding Hermione, Padawan, so I figured that I could parole you a little early. Besides, your answer last night told me everything I needed to know. Also, how are you and your girlfriend supposed to learn to communicate through this soul bond of yours if you're not even in the same house?"

Harry could only gape, never had his master done this before. She must really be happy with him. He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Kiara round the waist, hugging her fiercely while trying to hide a sudden upsurge of emotion. He was hugged back and then felt himself in the middle of a sandwich as Hermione came and joined them. After a few moments they broke up, and then sat on the floor as it was quite comfortable. The first lesson on soul bond communication began.

"OK, Hermione, Harry just relax and go into the normal meditation trance," Kiara said softly. She waited till they were in the trance before speaking again. "Now, look around in your minds, you should see a connection that goes to the other one of you. When you have it, just hold it for a moment." Pulling out of the semi-trance she was in, Kiara was shocked to see both Harry and Hermione glowing with a soft golden colour. Dropping back into the semi-trance she spoke again. "Now, slowly move along that bond, you should feel the other person at the other end. When you reach them, say hello. Don't try and yell, just speak normally." Coming out of her trance, the Jedi was pleased to see the two students come out at the same time, both wearing surprised looks, although Hermione was more surprised than Harry, after all Harry had been mentally communicating for years.

"Wow," Harry said, "that was fantastic. The bond seemed almost solid. It was gold too."

"Yeah," Hermione added, "I'm not sure what the significance of the solidity or the colour is though. Either way it was fantastic. Do we have to go into the trance every time we communicate though?" she asked, directing her question to Kiara.

Kiara frowned slightly, considering the question. "I don't think so, it might take a bit of concentration to find the bond again the first few times but after a while you should be able to instinctively find the bond and talk along it without giving the impression to any outside observers that there's anything going on. Its also very useful at times, when you want to hold two conversations at once." she finished grinning as she remembered two separate memories. Harry caught the grin and started probing.

"What's the grin for, Master?" he asked interestedly.

Kiara chuckled. "Do you really want to know?" she asked. Harry and Hermione nodded eagerly. Kiara laughed. "OK then I'll tell you," she said.

"The first memory was when I and the rest of the Demons had pulled a prank. This was with our masters' help, mind you, so they could hardly punish us for it afterwards. That was one of the conditions we set when they agreed to help us. Anyway, we'd baked some brownies, except we added our own special ingredient, a bottle of super strong chocolate flavoured laxative. (At this point Harry's eyes went very wide, as did Hermione's). So I was nominated to give the brownies to the Councilors. The plan worked very well except there was something we hadn't known about beforehand. The Supreme Chancellor was coming to dinner. (Harry and Hermione began to giggle. So too did Professor McGonagall who had Flooed in without anyone noticing). Anyway, he let off the loudest fart anyone had ever heard, and all of us who were in on the prank were horrified. Our original plan still worked, when half of the Jedi Council ran for the bathroom at the same time, colliding in the doorway as they went. We were all just sitting there until my master looked at me and said, "_What are you sitting there for, how long do you think it will take a Jedi Master to overcome the effects of an unexpected laxative?" _So the Demons and our respective masters ran out into the corridor, only to meet the rather annoyed Council members on the way back in. We then had a full scale race down the corridors, with us racing ahead of our masters and our masters trying to catch up because they didn't want us telling the Council that they had been in on it. And, of course, the Council Members in hot pursuit of all of us. The two conversations comes in when my master was yelling the standard threats out loud, the normal stuff about how I was never going to make it to Knighthood if he caught me, etc etc etc, while the mental one was something along the lines of _No I'm not going to kill you, for the love of the Force, Padawan, KEEP RUNNING! _It was hilarious," Kiara finished, smiling in fond remembrance. She then looked round to see her audience of three clutching their sides in tears of laughter, barely able to sit up straight.

"Oh I'm glad you weren't at Hogwarts when the Marauders were, Kiara, you'd have made their pranks ten times worse," McGonagall said when she'd recovered enough to talk.

Harry and Hermione looked round in surprise. "Professor?" Harry queried curiously, "what are you doing here?"

McGonagall smiled. "I'm here to talk to your master, Mr. Potter, and ask a question that you don't need to know about at the moment. I'm also doubling as a school owl and giving you a couple of pamphlets about the third year electives so you know what you can choose for classes this year. You still keep the core classes but you can choose two new electives. You can choose more than two, but the workload will be greater. Choose wisely." With that said, she handed the pamphlets to the two students before Kiara dismissed them so they could go upstairs and study the lists (although she was privately thinking that that wasn't all they would be studying).

"So, Minerva, what was it that you wanted to ask without having my Padawan around?" she enquired, sitting on the couch and watching as the Transfiguration Professor rather nervously fidgeted with her teacup.

"Um, I, well, it's like…" McGonagall stuttered, very nervous now about the idea she was thinking about.

Kiara chuckled and tried to get her to relax. "Come now, Minerva, it can't be all that bad, surely. I might give the impression of wanting to kill anyone that messes with Harry, but I know you, and I'm not going to bite." she said, trying to joke McGonagall out of the nervous state she was in.

McGonagall sighed before deciding to take the plunge, metaphorically speaking. "I want to offer Harry a position as my apprentice for Transfiguration" she said bluntly, then sat back and waited for Kiara's response. When it came, it was surprisingly mild.

"Have you discussed it with him yet? And do you know if that is what he wants to do?"

"No I haven't but he did ask me whether there was any way of continuing in Transfiguration after Hogwarts. He's very good at the subject, he could actually apprentice in DADA, and Charms, as well if it were possible. His marks are splendid; all that extra studying in the Den at Hogwarts has paid off. The real question is, would you be willing to share master-ship of him."

Kiara sat back and thought about it. Now that she considered it, Harry did love Transfiguration and had said more than once that he wouldn't mind seeking an apprenticeship after Hogwarts in it. He had also assured his master that it wouldn't interfere with his Jedi studies either. She sighed.

"I assume it's unusual for a student as young as Harry to be offered an apprenticeship?" she queried. Seeing McGonagall nod, she went on "We would have to work out details, if I remember the Wizarding version of Master/Apprentice relationships, they are very much like the Jedi version, the master and apprentice share quarters, stay together for a specific number of years etc etc. We would have to work out a sort of shared custody arrangement, especially for the holidays. He also needs time to continue his Jedi apprenticeship. As much as I like the idea of him having this opportunity, Harry is a Jedi first and foremost. I will not allow him to give up his training in that, I have too much invested in him to see him give it up, and truthfully, I don't believe that he would want to give it up."

McGonagall nodded again, surprised that the fiercely protective Jedi Master was even willing to consider the idea of her Padawan starting a second apprenticeship while still continuing his first one. Then again, she knew that Kiara liked her and also knew that, had it been anyone else, Kiara would probably have refused. It was a measure of how much the Jedi trusted her that she was considering the idea and not automatically refusing to allow it.

"I have an idea about how the living arrangements will work but I'm not sure that you'll like the idea," McGonagall began cautiously. Seeing Kiara sit up straighter, she went on, "As you know, at the start of last year, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley twins pulled a rather ingenious prank on the senior staff, myself included. It was a very good prank and both I and Filius Flitwick, Harry's Charms Professor liked what we were changed into." At that point she explained the prank, and Kiara was soon on the floor in fits of laughter.

"I can just imagine it," she gasped, wiping her eyes, before motioning to Minerva to continue.

"Well, I'm very interested in the Jedi, and I know that Mr. Potter is covertly training Miss Granger in the ways of the Force, though she doesn't know it yet. I would be very surprised if you hadn't suggested it," – Kiara looked mildly put out at being caught like that – "and I was wondering if you would consent to teach me. I obviously wouldn't be much use with a lightsaber but learning how to use the Force, or even magic in new ways would be useful." At that point she stopped, half fearful that Kiara would take offence at her suggestion. She then felt an odd sensation in her mind, like someone was probing her. Looking up she found the full power of Kiara's gaze boring into her. The Jedi Master relaxed somewhat and returned to sitting back against the couch, having moved to sit on the edge of it before.

"I believe we could work something out. Also, I'm impressed that you managed to catch onto what I'm doing with Hermione. According to the laws of the Jedi, I'm not allowed more than one apprentice at a time. I let Harry train Hermione because he saw her everyday, and I only needed to keep an eye on her progress. With you, I believe that I shall ignore those laws for now. You might have some trouble at first, you're used to using a wand and this is primarily going to be wandless magic. It's not impossible, just difficult. But, I believe we were talking about working out living arrangements for summer?"

"Yes, in the term he could either stay in Gryffindor, or move into my quarters, he would have his own room, and would share the rest of the living space like the bathroom and lounge etc. And in summer, well, I don't know." McGonagall trailed off, happy to have arranged something for term but frustrated about summer. Kiara's next words shocked her though.

"How about coming to live here? You would get your own space; there are more than enough bedrooms in this place, and as for the idea of me teaching you to use the Force, well, how about a trade. I teach you wandless magic, essentially teaching you to use the Force as well, and you teach me the basics of Transfiguration. While we're teaching each other, we can also teach our apprentice. Harry can learn Jedi stuff from me and Transfiguration from you and by the time we're both finished with him, he'll be a Jedi Knight and also a Master of Transfiguration."

McGonagall gaped at the Jedi sitting across from her for a second before excitedly agreeing. When Harry and Hermione came down to see what all the excited chatter was about, they were stunned at the offer that was being made. Hermione felt slightly jealous, after all, she was also doing just as well. Kiara then asked her if she still wanted to be a Healer after leaving school. Hermione replied in the affirmative and then McGonagall suggested that Poppy Pomfrey might be willing to apprentice her in the infirmary and start her on learning the basics of medimagic on the condition that her parents agree to it. Two Floo calls later and Hermione was excitedly jumping up and down, as she was Poppy Pomfrey's new Healing Apprentice, and Kiara had also promised to teach her what she knew of the Jedi Healing Arts.

The new group, of two masters and two apprentices, was formed. Harry and Hermione would be living in separate rooms off McGonagall's and Poppy's quarters during term-time, with another separate room for Kiara to stay in when she visited. During the summer, they would all stay at Sanctuary with regular visits from Sheryl and David to see Hermione and Harry. Harry was rather nervous about this as he had an event planned for Hermione's birthday, but wanted her parent's permission. He already had his master's permission.

The next day, the paperwork was filed and sent into the Ministry and also a copy to Hogwarts. Dumbledore was furious at this but he couldn't do anything, the Ministry ruling about him not being able to see Harry or speak to him without either McGonagall or Kiara present had come through and was enraging him. He also wasn't allowed to contact the Dursleys again. He knew that any chance of manipulating McGonagall to gain access to Harry was now useless, as the Head of Gryffindor, while she might be strict with her students, was also as fierce in her protection of them as a lioness is when protecting her cubs. It was a fitting analogy since the symbol of Gryffindor House was a lion. Kiara wouldn't stand for manipulations either, and could smell them a mile off. Growling, he filed the paperwork, and tried to ignore the fact that, come the new term, there would be one Transfiguration apprentice and one Healing apprentice in the school. He also desperately tried to ignore the fact that both apprentices were Gryffindors, and both of their new masters were totally impervious to any form of manipulation or interference whatsoever.

The fact that the Transfiguration apprentice also happened to be the resident Jedi apprentice hadn't escaped him either. He would have been more shocked to learn that technically, there was one Transfiguration apprentice, one Healing apprentice and two Jedi apprentices. Kiara had decided to teach McGonagall how to be a Jedi, even though the arrangement would be for the most part informal. So it was that McGonagall, Kiara and Poppy were sitting in the living room at Sanctuary, plotting lesson plans and Kiara and Poppy were engaged in a lively debate over the relative merits of Wizarding and Jedi Healing techniques.

Harry had Flooed the Burrow, and told Fred and George of the new developments. They were thrilled about it. Harry went to bed that night, and fell asleep, happy at this much unexpected turn his life had taken. He would not be so happy the next morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Sirius Black, Pettigrew Revealed and Diagon Alley.**

When Harry came down for breakfast the next morning, he found both his masters (and wasn't that odd to think about) sitting at the table conversing quietly, glaring at the paper from time to time. Hermione was seated at the table as well, looking worried. He sat down and pulled the cereal box towards him with the Force, earning a scowl from Kiara as he did so, she didn't like him using the Force for trivialities like that.

"What's wrong?" he asked, when the silence at the table had gone on for a while. McGonagall sniffed slightly before turning to him.

"Mr. Potter, Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. He is highly dangerous and the Ministry believes that he is out to get you."

Now Harry was confused, he'd never heard of, wait a minute. "Sirius Black? As in Padfoot of the Marauders, that Sirius Black? The one who was made my godfather?" he said, turning his gaze towards Kiara. She nodded gloomily before pushing the paper towards him.

"Yes, Padawan, I'm afraid so. I don't want to believe him guilty, in fact I don't believe him guilty, but if Pettigrew is indeed alive, then where is he?" Before Harry could answer, Hermione broke in with a question which prompted them to explain the situation.

"But, Ron Weasley has a rat," she said, confused. "It's missing a toe and he's had it in his family for about twelve years." She looked up to find the gazes of both Kiara and Minerva fixed firmly on her. She gulped, she knew that neither Kiara nor Professor McGonagall would ever hurt her, but being under their combined gazes, especially with them being so strong, was rather disconcerting.

"Minerva, I believe we have a rat to inspect," Kiara said calmly as she reached for the Floo powder.

Ronald Weasley was most displeased to hand his rat over for a test that in his opinion was unnecessary. He was even more displeased to find that the test was well founded and that his rat was a person. He went off to sulk, not caring that the rest of his family was staring at the rat-turned-person in shock.

**A few minutes earlier**

"OK, Minerva, turn him back," Kiara said, holding the rat by the tail. McGonagall complied and shot a blue-white light at the squeaking rat. It hit, and then the rat started to change. Suddenly there was a rather mouse-ish looking man on the floor of the Burrow's kitchen.

**Now**

"Thank you, Arthur, Molly, we'll just take him and go shall we," Kiara said pleasantly, keeping a firm grip on the rat's collar. McGonagall turned and followed them into the fire, returning to Sanctuary where their apprentice and Hermione were waiting for the verdict.

"Start talking," Kiara demanded a minute after they stepped out of the Floo. Pettigrew gulped, this woman who had hold of him was scary, very scary. Harry felt a small bit of sympathy for him, the glare that his master was giving him was the one that she'd given Harry just after the Basilisk incident, and it wasn't pleasant at all. Pettigrew squirmed before beginning to talk.

"I did it. I was the Secret Keeper for Lily and James. We switched, no one was told. The Dark Lord, I told him to save myself, he would have killed me if I hadn't." Pettigrew broke down crying, and Harry felt nothing but disgust. He fully agreed with Kiara when she leaned down to hiss in Pettigrew's ear that it would have been far more honorable to die than to betray his friends and then frame another. Then again, she had continued, it would have been too much to expect since his animagus form was a rat.

McGonagall came into the room with two Aurors, and a bottle of Veritaserum. They poured some down Pettigrew's throat and questioned him, writing down the answers on charmed parchment that wouldn't lie. That done they took it to Amelia Bones who promptly cleared Sirius Black of all charges and put out a notice in the Daily Prophet to that effect.

The next day there was a knock on the door. Harry opened it to find himself looking at Sirius, who looked very ragged and also rather hungry. He let him in and brought him to the kitchen, where he then had to step aside as Kiara hugged Sirius hard, before practically shoving him into a chair and placing lunch in front of him. While he ate, Sirius was brought up to date on all the recent happenings and happily agreed when Harry proposed that, since he was making himself a rather odd family of sorts, with Kiara as his mother, McGonagall as a sort of aunt/teacher, and Hermione as his sort of girlfriend, then would Sirius agree to live in Sanctuary and be his surrogate father. After getting nods from McGonagall and Hermione, Harry looked to Kiara, who merely pulled both Sirius and himself into a crushing hug and whispered that she had no problems with the arrangement at all.

Two days after this new arrangement was properly documented and filed, Harry was having great fun teasing Kiara and Sirius by calling them Mum and Dad, and them retaliating by virtue of threats to send him to his room. Hermione and McGonagall watched with amusement, and then laughed when the post owl dropped its mail on Harry's head. Grinning he passed Hermione her school letter and Hogsmeade form, while looking at his own. He passed the Hogsmeade form over to his parents (as he now thought of them) while perusing his other two letters. One was from Sheryl and David, who had accepted his proposal and Harry was going to enact it that night with a bit of help from Kiara and McGonagall. Although he thought of them as his family, and had fun joking around with them, he never forgot that he was their apprentice, and still addressed them both as Master whenever out in public. Only in private, with the rest of his "family" could he relax and call them Mum and Aunt respectively. He called Sirius "Dad" all the time, because he wasn't Sirius' apprentice. He grinned as he looked up, only to see the form unsigned and wicked smiles on Sirius' and Kiara's faces.

"Come on, Mum, Dad, are you going to sign or not?" he whined. Kiara smirked, while Sirius sat back and watched with a similar smirk.

"Hmm, I don't know, there is supposedly a "dangerous killer" on the loose," his master said slowly. As Harry groaned she added, "and of course, being a Hogwarts apprentice does entitle one to go to Hogsmeade on any weekend, not just student ones." Harry blinked for a moment before his head whipped round to his other master.

"Professor is it true?" he asked, hardly daring to believe it. When McGonagall nodded, his face broke out into a wide grin. Hermione was slightly upset at this but recognised that Harry would probably be too busy to go every weekend. She felt better about it when Harry promised to only use this privilege if he absolutely had to. She was therefore startled when Poppy informed her that she had the same privileges and would also be sent to Hogsmeade on various errands on the weekends when they ran short of supplies. Hermione was also excited to learn that she would be visiting St Mungo's to see how the magical Hospital was run.

Hermione and Harry then started excitedly dancing round the kitchen at the news that both of them would be going to have the same privileges when they were brought up short by McGonagall's next statement.

"Should you abuse this privilege in any way, either myself or Master Lyn are more than capable of reducing it back down to normal student weekends for a period of time," she stated.

Harry was crestfallen to hear Kiara add, "Harry, if you do abuse this then I might just remove the privilege altogether for the same period of time."

Needless to say, both Harry and Hermione promised not to abuse this very special perk of being a Hogwart's Apprentice. Hermione almost went comatose with delight upon hearing that they would also have full run of the Restricted Section of the Library, again with the same conditions. That day they made plans to go to Diagon Alley, Harry and Hermione needed to be fitted for their apprentice robes, Harry in red, and Hermione in white and they needed to get their schoolbooks. There had been a lively argument regarding what they would choose.

_Flashback: _

"_Professor McGonagall, tell Harry that Divination is a very woolly discipline and isn't worth taking. He ought to do Ancient Runes or Arithmancy," Hermione complained. _

_Harry jumped right in with "And can you talk Hermione out of taking all eight electives, it's making my head hurt to think about the amount of work involved." McGonagall stopped the argument by involving Kiara and the four of them sat down and had a discussion about the various merits of each class, with Sirius interjecting with what electives he had taken and why he'd found them fun. Finally they agreed that Hermione would be taking Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies, (Harry rolled his eyes at this, in his opinion Hermione didn't need Muggle Studies), and Harry himself would be taking Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Divination. The Divination was only an interest, he would drop it if it didn't look interesting after the first week, and besides he was curious to know if wizarding methods were anymore reliable than that of the Jedi._

Harry grinned in memory before stopping in front of Madam Malkins. As he and Hermione were fitted for their robes, he had a mental conversation with Kiara.

**: Master, why are you not being fitted for robes?:**

**: Because:** came the reply**: I am only learning the basics of Transfiguration, like Minerva is only learning the basics of the Force. You and Hermione are the real apprentices here, not me or Minerva. How are you going to keep the two of us straight when talking about us to other people:**

**: I'm going to refer to you as Master Lyn and Aunt Minerva as Master McGonagall: **

**: OK that sounds good. Stop fidgeting:**

Harry broke the connection, then felt along the one he had with Hermione, smiling as it took him less and less time each time, and also that the communication was smoother as Hermione got the hang of talking mentally.

"Hey Tawny", he said, pleased when Hermione didn't even turn her head to look at him.

"Yes Jet" came her reply.

"What do you say to heading to Flourish and Blotts next for our books, and then to Florean Fortescue's for some ice-cream, before we head for the rest of the stores."

"OK but we need to clear it with your masters though".

Hermione tended to refer to Kiara and McGonagall as Harry's masters, and was enjoying being able to pick up supplies that her own master, Poppy needed. Poppy had said that it would be a good test of her abilities and had provided a list of what she needed. She was pleased that Hermione was also learning to be a Jedi Healer and wanted to see whether Jedi healing might be worked into magical healing.

Armed with her list, Hermione walked up to Kiara and soon got clearance to do what she and Harry had discussed. Afterwards, Hermione went to the various places to buy stuff that she would need for her Healing apprenticeship, mainly books but there were some potions ingredients that she needed to get, as she needed to know how to make the various Healing potions even though there was a Potions Master on staff who usually made them for the Hogwarts hospital wing.

After getting everything they needed, the group Flooed back to Sanctuary and Hermione then Flooed back to her home, leaving Harry to sit through another two hours of what he called torture but his two masters called "rules and expectations", basically meaning that he sat through two hours of what he'd be doing that year as a Transfiguration apprentice, and also as a Jedi apprentice, in addition to his other schoolwork.

"Will I have to teach any classes, Professor?" he asked, as he'd read that apprentices usually helped their master with teaching classes, much like a senior padawan would have taught initiate classes in the old Jedi Order.

McGonagall shook her head. "Not until your sixth or seventh year Mr. Potter. You will be my apprentice but for the moment, you will be helping me mark the first years homework, and doing a type of accelerated learning course. This should make you more advanced than your classmates, but I'll give you extra work in class to make up for it. I assume you're going to help Miss Granger with learning extra stuff as well?"

"Er, no, Professor, she said that she was going to learn it in class anyway, so I didn't need to. We'll just keep doing what we have done, read ahead and study in the Den."

Kiara then broke into the conversation. "Padawan, I've noticed that you call me master, and Minerva, Professor, when technically we're both your masters. Care to explain why?"

Harry flushed slightly. "I'll call you both master when I'm alone or in public with each of you, but when I'm with both of you, it's a bit confusing for me when both of you answer to the same title. So," he broke off when he noticed both Kiara and McGonagall nodding.

"OK, we get the picture. That's fine, just remember to call us both master out in public, and if we are both with you, then just specify which one you wanted to talk to when we both answer." Kiara said after a minute. Harry nodded, before yawning slightly; the shopping trip had tired him out more than he'd thought. He excused himself and went upstairs for a nap before tea, coming down much more rested and refreshed. Sirius teased him about needing an afternoon nap like a five-year-old, only to yelp when Harry turned into Jet and growled at him. Changing back, Harry was amused at the look of shock on his godfather's face.

"What's wrong, Sirius?" he said, enjoying himself immensely.

Sirius picked his jaw off the floor and whispered, "How long have you been able to do that. Are Hermione and those twin Weasley terrors animagi too?"

Harry nodded, then grinned wickedly and said "Hermione and I have been animagi since our first year, Fred and George since their third. We are the members of the Demons. Our names are Jet, Tawny, Fleetfoot and Puck, and Fred and George would be very happy to learn who you are, Mr. Padfoot." He then looked down at the floor and said, "Oops I think I broke him," when Sirius fainted.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Padfoot and Moony**

Sirius had been enervated and had got over his shock enough to invite the Weasley twins and Hermione over the next day, where he introduced himself as Padfoot and then the house was alive with barks and growls and yips as the two wolves, one dog and two foxes got to know each other. Padfoot growled at Jet as they scuffled for the alpha position of the pack that was building up. Jet won, due to Padfoot's unwillingness to anger the big wolf. He was further cowed when he was bowled over by a lunge from Jet when Padfoot teasingly walked round Tawny.

After the pack order had been restored, McGonagall who had come in, in cat form, promptly found herself running for her life in front of a pack of canines. The playful chase lasted until she ran up Kiara's leg and jumped onto her shoulder, quivering in outrage, her tail fluffed up and fur standing on end. Kiara placed her on the table before turning to the assembled canine pack and yelling out "SIT". Amusingly, they all did so. Minerva then turned back into herself and, after a quick conversation with Kiara they turned to the assembled pack and grinned. Five tails promptly sunk to the ground as the assembled pack turned tail and fled. They weren't quick enough and found themselves outside in a Transfigured pen with no way out. After about an hour or so they were let out, only to turn back into themselves and apologise to Minerva for scaring her like that.

Later that afternoon a knock came at the front door. Opening it, Kiara found Remus Lupin on the doorstep. Inviting him inside, she led him down the hall to the lounge where he stared at the assembled group with some surprise. He greeted Minerva warmly, and was quickly introduced to Harry and his friends, Fred and George falling to their knees in worship upon learning that he was Mr. Moony. He was then given a quick demonstration of the teenagers' animagi forms, before they disappeared to the Burrow, where Ron was showing his growing maturity by not hexing Harry and even seemed to be coming to terms with Harry and Hermione's relationship. Sirius and Remus, on the other hand, were staring rather warily at each other.

"Is it true, Paddy?" Remus finally spoke. "I wanted to believe you, but the evidence," he trailed off, as Sirius glared at him.

"The evidence was circumstantial, Moony; I didn't even get a trial! I believe you when you say you wanted to believe me, can you in turn forgive me for suspecting you were the spy that betrayed Lily and James?" Remus nodded before stepping forward and engulfing Sirius in a hug.

The two old friends spent the rest of the afternoon catching up, and Sirius filled Remus in on the rather odd living situations at Sanctuary. Remus was amused to hear that Sirius was Harry's "father", Kiara his "mother", Hermione was his "sort of girlfriend" and he choked when he heard that Harry had wormed his way deep enough into McGonagall's heart to not only become her Transfiguration apprentice at age thirteen but was also allowed to call her "Aunt" during the summer!

Kiara then shocked him further by offering him a place at Sanctuary, and Harry, who no one had noticed come back, then shyly said that if his parents had lived, that Remus would have been something of an uncle to him, and would Remus mind taking that place again? Remus choked again, but managed to answer in a rather strangled voice that no he wouldn't mind at all, and would be honoured to do so. Harry walked up to Remus and rather hesitantly hugged him, saying as he did so, "Welcome to the family, Uncle Remus".

Remus hugged him back saying, "I'm honoured to be a part of it, cub".

"What's with the "cub" business?" Harry asked puzzled.

Remus smiled, somewhat embarrassed as he explained that he was a werewolf, and the wolf inside him viewed Harry as the "cub" of his pack. Sirius then shook with laughter as he informed Remus that Harry was now the alpha male of his own pack and explained about the Demons. Remus was very intrigued and asked he could join.

"Of course you can, Moony" Harry exclaimed, then called through the Floo for the rest of the Demons to come to Sanctuary for a quick initiation. When they arrived, they changed into their animagus forms briefly before Harry introduced them by their Demon nicknames. Remus was entranced by this and solemnly shook their hands, saying,

"It is an honour to be introduced to Messrs Fleetfoot, Puck and Jet and also to the lovely Miss Tawny. Mr. Moony humbly thanks you all for allowing himself and Mr. Padfoot into your pack."

Harry shook Remus' hand and replied, "And we are honoured that Messrs Moony and Padfoot would wish to join our fledgling group and would be grateful for any pranking knowledge that you can pass on."

That led to an eager discussion of pranks with the Demons retelling all the pranks from first and second year (third and fourth for Fred and George). Remus and Sirius were ecstatic over the prank played on Dumbledore, and laughed at the pictures. They laughed harder over Lockhart, saying that they'd known the git while in school and it was a good thing that the Demons had pranked him.

Soon after that, the non-Sanctuary Demons headed home, with McGonagall heading to her home as well, to make final preparations for moving her belongings to Sanctuary. She found herself not minding in the least, as she had loved Harry Potter as a baby and was deeply saddened by his parents' deaths. She was pleased that Harry was comfortable enough to tease her, and the fact that she had a place in his family made her feel warm inside. She also knew that Harry was nothing if not professional and wouldn't allow his familial ties to her to cloud their relationship as both master and apprentice, along with the more familiar teacher/student roles at school. She had to smile at that, Harry was still only thirteen and would, no doubt get into some sort of trouble this year, but this year, she felt slightly sorry for him as, if he did get in trouble, he would not only have one master yelling at him, but two, and a father and an uncle as well. Then again, said father and uncle were Marauders so they'd be more likely to encourage him. Stepping into the fireplace she spoke the name of her destination and was whirled away.

**In Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts**

Fawkes and the Sorting Hat were having a conversation. Few knew that they could converse, not even Dumbledore did. The topic of their conversation was one Harry Potter, and his group of friends. The end result was that Fawkes would keep an eye on Harry and the Sorting Hat would come up with ways of defeating Voldemort, as it knew of the "Chosen One's" destiny. Dumbledore had forgotten that the Hat had been in the room when he had viewed the full Prophecy one day and the Hat had no intention of letting Dumbledore know that it knew. It had to find some way of either informing Harry itself or of informing Harry's master, Kiara, as the Jedi would be sure to tell Harry what it said.

When Fawkes informed the Hat about Harry's new status the Hat was delighted, as it now saw another avenue to getting the all-important information to the young Jedi. It knew, even if no one else did, that the young Jedi was the Heir of Gryffindor, even if he did have some Slytherin in him, second year had proven that quite conclusively. Only one of the Gryffindor line could pull the sword out of the Hat, and Fawkes found the similarities to Arthur and the Sword in the Stone to be very amusing. They then quieted down as Dumbledore entered the office, neither of them very happy with the way he'd treated the young Heir, and neither of them happy with the way he was scheming to break up the newly forming family at Sanctuary.

**Back at Sanctuary**

Harry and Hermione were currently running round the edge of the training hall beneath the house. Hermione, now that she'd committed to being a Jedi, suddenly found Jedi training to be quite grueling, and also found that Kiara was quite a stern taskmaster when it came to physical fitness. Sirius had joined them at some point, stating that he wanted to get back in shape for returning to his job as an Auror, but had dropped out after the twentieth lap. At last, after thirty laps, Kiara let the exhausted apprentices rest for five minutes before beginning them on push ups and sit ups. Harry was used to this routine, but Hermione wasn't. Seeing that her newest apprentice was struggling, Kiara came over, stopping to correct Harry's technique before coming to Hermione.

"Calm down, Hermione, just do what you can for now. I didn't expect you to last this long, that training at Hogwarts really has helped. Just take a break, Harry will be done soon, and then we can get started on meditation and other stuff."

Hermione nodded, doing one last sit up before collapsing. Harry finished his set of sit ups and looked to Kiara for permission to go to Hermione. Receiving it, he hurriedly went over, beginning to massage Hermione's leg muscles to prevent cramping.

Kiara looked at the state of her two apprentices and sighed. Hermione didn't have to join in the physical training, she was a Healer apprentice, and while it was nice that she wanted to keep fit and join in with Harry, the fitness levels between that of an apprentice training to be a Knight, and that of an apprentice training to be a Healer was different. If Hermione kept this up she was going to be too exhausted to do her own training and that wouldn't do at all. The Jedi Master thought for a moment before having a brainwave.

"Hermione," she called. The girl stood and made her way over, followed by an anxious Harry. "Both you and Harry can go upstairs and shower but then you and I need to talk. I've had an idea for your training but I need to discuss it with you first." Hermione nodded, and then went upstairs with Harry. Kiara smiled ruefully and followed, knowing that Hermione probably wouldn't be pleased but also knowing that if she didn't set some limits now, that Hermione was probably going to burn out, trying to keep up with Harry when their training would be going in radically different directions.

After half an hour, Harry and Hermione entered the lounge, to find Kiara looking over the lesson plans that she, McGonagall and Poppy had made. She looked up with a smile, noting that Harry was relaxed and Hermione seemed rather nervous. 'Time to put a brake on things' she thought to herself.

"Hermione, sit down for a moment, will you," she requested, sending Harry to the other side of the lounge. Hermione sat, still looking rather nervous.

"Hermione, you and Harry are going in different directions with your training. I'm happy that you want to stay fit and learn what Harry is learning, but a Healer's fitness level is different to that of a Knight's. By all means come down and run with Harry but when you get tired, stop, don't attempt to keep up. If you continue how you have been you'll burn yourself out and that won't do anyone any good, least of all you." Kiara stopped, because Hermione was now looking very upset.

"I'm not telling you this because I'm annoyed at you or anything like that; I'm just worried that you're trying to do too much. Poppy would kill me if you went to Hogwarts exhausted and unable to do your Healing training. Healers get basic weapons and self defense training, the same way that I'll be sending Harry to you and Poppy for basic first aid training. Understand?"

Hermione nodded, and got up, but before she could leave, Kiara pulled her into a hug. Both of them could feel Harry's mounting indignation that Kiara had upset Hermione, even though she hadn't meant to, and Hermione laughed softly.

"I think, Master Lyn, that you might want to reassure Harry that I'm OK before he does something stupid like yell at you again." she whispered conspiratorially.

Kiara smiled back and said just as softly, "He'd better not; otherwise he might find himself unable to go near you again for the rest of the summer." Hermione disentangled herself from Kiara and walked over to Harry, soothing him and explaining what they'd been talking about. Harry calmed down immediately and had the grace to send a sheepish smile and a mental apology to his Master, who accepted both with a slight nod.

That evening, both teenagers went to sleep, in their own homes, as Hermione had returned to her home to see her parents before she left for Hogwarts. Both of them were dreaming about seeing Hogwarts the next day, and starting their third year, both of them as students and also apprentices in their respective chosen fields of study. They didn't know it, but their masters were also dreaming of the next day, and the coming ones as well, all wondering the same thing. 'What have we got ourselves into?'


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Dealings with Dementors, and the Hogwarts Feast**

Harry and Hermione were excitedly chatting on the Express the next day, as they made their way to Hogwarts. Ron and Ginny had joined them in their compartment, which also housed Remus, as he was the DADA teacher that year. All of the residents of Sanctuary were furious at the Minister of Magic, as he had refused to believe the interview record that stated Sirius' innocence and was stationing Dementors round the entrances to Hogwarts. Harry had asked what Dementors were, and was promptly sick after being told what they did to a person. After throwing up and recovering, he immediately walked over to his godfather and hugged him for about five minutes, saying nothing, merely hugging him.

As the train passed over a bridge it suddenly came to a creaking halt. Remus continued sleeping, it had been a full moon the night before and he was tired. The students on the other hand were worried, and Harry slid his hand down to grasp the hilt of his lightsaber, ready to draw it at any provocation. There was another lurch and then the lights went out. Harry extended the Force, and saw that the windows were starting to ice over and he felt cold.

Harry started to shake slightly, what was happening were the classic signs of a Dementor approaching. He had no clue if a lightsaber could kill one of the floating creatures, who to Harry's mind, looked a bit like the Ringwraiths from the Lord of the Rings, but he intended to find out if one came near him. Then he noticed a shadow approaching the door to their compartment.

The door creaked and slid open and a rotting, slimy hand closed round the edge. The Dementor slid its head round the door and looked in the compartment. Harry looked round, seeing that his friends were shaking in fear, and he had to squash the sense of debilitating fear out of him as well. Gripping his lightsaber, he ignited it, the snap-hiss and the humming sound drawing the Dementor's attention. Harry stood in front of his friends, uncle and semi-rival in a defensive stance, blade poised to strike if this thing moved any closer. Then, to Harry's (and everyone else's) shock, the Dementor backed off and gave a slight bow.

&Greetings young Jedi& a voice whispered through the air. Harry swallowed hard before replying.

"Greetings to you as well. I assume you're here for Sirius Black?"

&That is correct, young Jedi& the Dementor said, its voice sounding colder than the Antarctic and older than Merlin.

"Well, you have it wrong, Sirius is innocent and he isn't on this train. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't harm my friends or the rest of the people at Hogwarts," Harry stated firmly.

The Dementor gave a low sound that Harry thought was a chuckle. &You are brave, young Jedi. I and my brethren will not harm anyone at Hogwarts, or anyone that is under your protection. I take it that Sirius Black is under your protection as well?&

"Yes," Harry stated firmly. He sensed that everyone behind him was still staring in shock as he conversed with a creature that gave all of them nightmares, and didn't appear afraid.

&Very well then. We cannot leave Hogwarts, we must obey the Minister, however we will not harm Sirius Black nor anyone else on Hogwarts grounds. We will merely act as guardians. Do come and talk with us again, young Jedi, you are very _refreshing _to me, a human that does not show fear. I will leave now; I think I am scaring your companions as well as your mate. Goodbye&

The Dementor floated off, and Harry had to explain to the very shocked group of people exactly what had happened. He groaned when Remus informed him that he'd sent a note to Minerva, she would no doubt want to inspect him to see if any damage had been done to her new apprentice's psyche, or brain, or anything else. And that was nothing to what his other master would do, Kiara was going to throw a fit when she heard this.

The train eventually reached Hogwarts, and Harry and Hermione hurried off. They were going to sit at the Head Table tonight so that they could be introduced as the new apprentices of Minerva and Poppy respectively. After that night, they could sit at the Gryffindor table again, but just for this night, they weren't. As predicted, Minerva did indeed thoroughly interrogate Harry over his experiences, and was stunned to hear of the bargain that Harry had made with the Dementor. She vetoed the idea of Harry stopping to _chat_ with them though; he was a little pale and shaky even if he hadn't been as badly affected as the others. Poppy on the other hand was busy interrogating Hermione as to the best cure for Dementor exposure and was pleased to hear her apprentice recommend chocolate, a hefty supply of which she soon found herself eating, and Harry found a large block of the stuff shoved into his hands as well. Chocolate eaten, they made their way to their seats at the Head Table, ignoring the many stares and whispers from the rest of the student body. Harry locked eyes with Snape and offered the man a respectful nod. He was shocked when Snape nodded back.

Turning his attention back to the Hall, he noticed his master (Minerva that is) returning with the first years. Paying strict attention to the Sorting, he was amused to notice that from up here, it was very easy to tell which students were paying attention and which weren't. He also noticed a small smile on McGonagall's face when she noticed his attention fixed on the Hat. Soon the Sorting was over, and Dumbledore had got up to say his annual speech. This year it included a warning about the Dementors, and Harry noticed his master's eyes narrow slightly upon noticing his renewed interest in speaking with them. Sighing mentally, he resolved not to deliberately go down and talk to them, but he could hardly help it if a Dementor chose to speak to him on his way to Hogsmeade now, could he? Smirking slightly, he heard the gasps when he and Hermione's new positions were announced, and caught the slight flare of jealousy in Ron's eyes, before it was squashed and he was clapping with the rest of the students.

Harry couldn't decide if the flash was just that, a quick flare of resentment, gone again and never to return, or the brief glimpse of a smouldering depth of jealousy and resentment that would blow up in their faces later. Shrugging, he put it to the back of his mind, and engaged Professor Flitwick in conversation. The little Professor was a very charming (pardon the pun) individual and he was apparently rather annoyed that Minerva had jumped the gun and stolen Harry out from under his nose. He said that if Harry wanted more advanced work in Charms, to talk to him and he would arrange it. He also said that, although it wasn't common, it was possible for a wizard to be a master in more than one field. Harry was ecstatic at this, his choices for possible apprenticeship after Hogwarts had come down to Transfiguration and Charms, DADA interested him and he was good at it, but he didn't want to be a master in it. He regretfully told Flitwick that he probably wouldn't be able to do a Charms apprenticeship as his master (Kiara ) would not be pleased at another apprenticeship interfering with his Jedi one. Minerva then jumped into the conversation and told Flitwick what the conditions were for Harry to have been allowed to apprentice with her, and then they both saw a truly disturbing sight: Filius Flitwick with a scheming smirk on his face.

They didn't get a chance to investigate this, as the Feast ended soon after. Harry and Hermione were both told that as apprentices they could come into the staff room, and do homework, or merely relax as their status of apprentices put them both in the rather odd position of being students for most of their classes, but also junior staff members for their respective fields. They were almost giddy with joy at being told that, while curfew would still be in effect, Filch could no longer threaten them the way he did most students. They were then shown their new living quarters, before bidding their masters goodnight, in Harry's case he said goodnight to one master verbally and one mentally. They then found the soul bond that linked them together and sent goodnights down it, along with a sense of love, and a feeling that was their equivalent of a mental hug. Smiling, they fell asleep, ready for the next day, both as Hogwarts students, and also as Hogwarts Apprentices.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Schemes and Solutions**

Filius Flitwick was normally a cheerful man. He wasn't so cheerful tonight. He was currently pacing round his quarters in the teachers wing, grumbling to himself.

'Hmmph, Minerva stole Harry away from me, he could have been a brilliant Charms apprentice, just like his mother. I wonder though, no one can accuse me of anything if I give Harry extra work in class because he's bored. Hmm, I need Severus' input in this, it requires a Slytherin touch.'

He left his quarters, and cheerfully made his way to the dungeons, where the Head of Slytherin lived. Knocking on the door, he heard a rather terse "Enter", and went in. Severus was currently sitting in his favourite chair in front of the fire while he went over what looked like OWL grades from the previous year's fifth years.

"What do you want, Flitwick?" Severus snapped.

The tiny Charms Professor merely sat on a chair opposite him, and frowned. "I need your help with a plan, Severus," he said.

Snape looked up, interested. "What type of plan?" he asked. When he heard the answer he was shocked.

"Surely you don't think Potter's capable of handling his classes, as well as three apprenticeships at once? Besides, Minerva's about as protective of him as that blasted Jedi he's apprenticed to is, they'll never hear of it." He was disturbed as a decidedly evil smirk crossed the Ravenclaw's face.

"But Severus, no one's going to suspect a thing if I give him an accelerated course plan. He's bored in class currently, and needs the extension. Besides, if I play this right, he can be a Charms Master by the end of seventh year, while still finishing his Transfiguration apprenticeship. I know he won't be made a Jedi Knight till about twenty-five or so, but he should have these other two apprenticeships out of the way by then."

Snape was shocked. Charms Master at seventeen, Transfiguration Master around twenty or twenty-one, he'd heard Minerva saying that she could get him up to Master standard in Transfiguration by then, and then Jedi Knight around twenty-four or twenty-five. He felt sorry for Potter, if the boy didn't have a mental breakdown before then it would be a miracle.

"How do you plan to keep Minerva and Master Lyn in the dark about this?" he enquired. "You know it's against the rules for an apprentice to lie to their master, and for the Jedi, that rule is even more serious. You'd be placing him in an impossible position."

Flitwick sighed. "Yes, Severus, I know. However, what do you suggest I do, go to Minerva and Kiara, and just ask politely? Like you said, it would be a miracle if I even got to finish what I was saying." He sighed again.

The Head of Slytherin looked at him calmly. "Yes, Filius that is exactly what you should do. If you want the element of surprise, I suggest sending three owls, and getting all three of your targets in the same room as you at the same time and not letting them leave until they've heard you out. Then you'll have your answer. Besides, would it really be so bad if Potter couldn't be your apprentice until he finished Hogwarts?"

Flitwick nodded, got up and left Severus' rooms, walking up to his own. He then spent time writing three letters, and sending them. They would be delivered at breakfast. As the next day was Sunday, and classes started on Monday, he would have to act fast.

**The next day**.

Harry received the note from Professor Flitwick at breakfast that morning. So did his two masters. They all read their notes, frowned, and then made their way to the assigned room at the appointed time. Kiara was slightly late but that didn't matter. Flitwick then came into the center of the room, and promptly found himself under three gazes, two suspicious and one curious.

"OK, Professor Flitwick, what's this about?" Kiara asked, slightly irritated at having her morning interrupted by what looked to her suspiciously like a parent/teacher conference. McGonagall agreed, and added her own questions. Flitwick raised his hands indicating that they should be silent. Harry was amused to see that it worked.

"I asked you here because I feel that Harry is getting bored in Charms at the moment. In second year he was at least a month or two ahead of the rest of the class, and the fact that he could do the charms wandlessly, and was making good progress with being able to do them silently as well, has made me think. What would you say to me offering him an accelerated course?" He sat back and looked at his captive audience.

Kiara was the first to get his hidden meaning. Flitwick gulped and felt very sorry for Harry, if the glare he was receiving from the Jedi Master was anything like the glares that she gave Harry when he was in trouble, well, he felt very sorry for him. Minerva didn't get it until Kiara turned round and fairly spat out, "He wants to make Harry his Charms apprentice in addition to Harry also being our apprentice." At that, Minerva also glared at Flitwick. He suddenly began to feel very sorry for the Gryffindor students as well. Harry on the other hand, had lit up, and seemed pleased by the idea.

"I can handle it, Masters," he said firmly.

Both Kiara and McGonagall swung round and said in perfect unison "No."

His face fell. "Why not, how's it different from what I'm doing with you, Master McGonagall? And before saying no, just listen to him. Please."

Both his masters sighed but sat down. Flitwick cautiously eyed them, and then outlined his plan. When he'd finished, he had all three staring at him in shock.

"You want him to take his Charms OWL at fourteen, his NEWT at fifteen and have his apprenticeship complete when he turns seventeen?" McGonagall spluttered in shock. Kiara chimed in as well.

"You do realise that that means three years worth of work in two years, and then two years worth of work in one year. Add to that the stress of his normal OWLs in fifth year, and he'll have a mental breakdown! Not to mention that we've factored in time during the year for me to check his progress in the studies he's doing for his apprenticeship with me. This is crazy." She got up to leave when she felt tendrils of Force energy curl round her, binding her to her seat. Looking over she saw Harry with his eyes closed in concentration, hand out and palm down. Smirking, she increased her strength, and saw her padawan start to sweat with the effort of holding her down. She then increased her strength even more and broke his hold. Harry opened his eyes to find himself bound to his seat, with Kiara crouched in front of him, a familiar smirk on her face. She then leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Impressive, young Potter, but you're not a Jedi yet". Ignoring his groan at the paraphrased Star Wars line, and also his muttering about Darth Vader wannabes, she sat back down. Harry then ventured a question of his own.

"Is it possible to follow the same pattern for both Transfiguration and Charms?" When his two masters and one would-be master stared at him, he shrugged and repeated his question.

"I suppose it could be done," McGonagall replied slowly, "but it would be an awful strain on you. You'd have to give up Quidditch, your free time would be nearly non-existent, not to mention that it's usually normal to complete one apprenticeship and then do another. I don't think I've ever heard of a wizard gaining two Masters degrees at once. Especially when that wizard is also a Jedi, and as such has other responsibilities." Harry looked towards Kiara with a pleading look on his face. She sighed and then gave a bit of startling information.

"If Harry works hard, he can be a Knight by the time he's eighteen to twenty. The Jedi Order is non-existent at the moment, with the exception of myself, Luke Skywalker, and Harry. Besides, I don't intend to return to Coruscant, I like it on Earth, and as such, the Jedi responsibilities such as mediating disputes between planets don't really apply. Harry's skills would make him invaluable as a Ministry diplomat, or Auror. He is soaking up theory at a rate of knots, and his physical skills are impressive for one so young. In a few more years there won't be much more I can teach him, and then it will be a matter of honing his skills and taking the Trials. Then he will be a Knight."

Seeing the shocked looks on her audience's face, she smiled. "If my padawan thinks he can handle the stress of three apprenticeships at once then I won't stop him. However, if he starts to look run down, or starts getting sick from too much work then we take a break. I won't have him burning himself out trying to do what most would consider impossible. Apart from that," she broke off to release Harry from his Force bonds and give him a hug, "good luck." Walking out the door, which Flitwick had accidentally unlocked in shock, she then vanished through the Floo in McGonagall's nearby office. Harry was left with Flitwick and McGonagall, both of whom were staring at the door. McGonagall then shook herself out of the daze she was in, only to look down and see Jet, who was giving her a very sorrowful look.

"Mr. Potter, change back immediately," she said, trying very hard not to laugh.

Harry changed back and then said wickedly, "Well, Master, I can't do puppy-dog eyes as a human so I changed into the form that can." Sighing in defeat, Minerva smiled, and then told Flitwick that Harry could be his apprentice as well. Yawning, she turned into her animagus form which had been named Smoky by Sirius. Smoky then jumped onto Harry's lap, and curled up, going to sleep, as she had been awakened rather early by Flitwick's owl. Harry stroked her, pleased when she began purring.

"Mr. Potter, we need to discuss your classes," Flitwick started. Harry looked up and nodded, excited that he'd get the chance to learn from Flitwick. The next few hours were spent going over Harry's schedule and working out times for meetings, and also what he'd be doing as Flitwick's apprentice. Like his Transfiguration apprenticeship, Harry would be doing accelerated coursework, and also helping by marking the first years' homework. Flitwick also hinted that if he got to be advanced enough, he might find himself doing the second years' homework as well. Harry merely smiled, although it was tempered a little by the knowledge that he would have to explain to Wood exactly why he wasn't doing Quidditch that year. Still, when he left Flitwick, he was happy, and raced to the Den, to share the good news with Hermione. She was happy for him, although she was a little upset that she wouldn't see him very much that year. He responded that he would make extra effort to get sent to the hospital wing just to see her. That made her laugh.

Soon news spread round the school about what Harry was doing. Classes were going well, although Ron appeared to have sunk back into jealousy for a small period until he got over it and was soon commiserating with Harry over his workload. Harry and Hermione were content to study and do their homework in the Den as usual. Fred and George didn't see them all that much as they were busy studying for their OWLs, but the Demons still got together to pull a prank once in awhile. Also, the two apprentices made an effort to go to the staff room at least once or twice a week, where they were greeted by the staff members, and generally made welcome. Things continued like this until Harry managed to get on the wrong side of Filch one evening.

Harry was coming back from the room near Gryffindor Tower that had been designated as his training room, exhausted. He had been working with Kiara, who was putting him through the most grueling and exhausting series of tests yet. This set was to determine how well he knew the various points on the body that, when struck at the right speed and with the right amount of power, could kill or incapacitate an opponent. He had also had to demonstrate the same skills with his lightsaber. After that she had introduced him to the next lightsaber kata, and made him practice it until she was satisfied that he could practice it alone without doing himself a serious injury. That, on top of a full day of classes, not to mention the extra work he had with Flitwick and McGonagall had left him longing for bed. The young Jedi frowned and opened his senses fully when he felt distress coming over the bond with Hermione. Breaking into a run, he started towards the source of the distress. He picked up his pace, augmenting it with the Force, as the distress grew. Rounding the corner into the corridor that held the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, he saw the caretaker, Filch, cornering Hermione and threatening her with detention and all sorts of other horrible things that Harry was quite sure he wasn't allowed to do. Harry spotted the book that Hermione had been carrying on the floor, and realised that Hermione must have been returning it to him. Stepping forward, he decided to test the boundaries of his authority.

"What's going on here, Mr. Filch" he asked in a quiet tone that he had adopted from Kiara.

Filch turned and then grinned nastily. "Well, if it isn't the other _apprentice_," he hissed. "Both of you out after hours, dear dear, this will have to be taken to the Headmaster, it will." Hermione whimpered slightly, her eyes begging Harry to do something. It was then that Harry noticed a hand-shaped bruise on Hermione's arm, and his temper started to fray. He drew his wand, and sent off a spell that Flitwick had taught him that day, one that allowed him to summon a person if he needed them. His golden X-wing flew off in search of McGonagall, and Harry turned back to the situation, just in time to see Filch grasp Hermione by her sweater and haul her up. Eyes blazing he stepped towards Filch and grabbed his wrist, turning it in a way that forced the man to let Hermione go. He then ducked a swing at his head, just as McGonagall came round the corner.

"Filch," she called sharply. "What's going on here?" Harry and Hermione stood to the side while Filch gave a highly edited version of events. McGonagall felt the temperature drop in the corridor and turned to the two students, noticing that Hermione seemed in shock, and that Harry seemed on the verge of doing something that might get him expelled. She laid a warning hand on his shoulder and the Jedi visibly pulled his temper under control. After the corridor had warmed up again, she got the other side of the story from the two apprentices. The result was that Hermione and Harry went to the Hospital Wing so that Hermione could be treated for shock, and then they went back to their respective rooms to go to bed. Filch was warned not to lay a hand on a student like that again, or he would find himself fired. Tiredly she herself went to bed, hoping that Filch would not deliberately antagonize either Harry or Hermione again. She knew it was something of a vain hope, Filch detested not being allowed to threaten and intimidate them, but McGonagall knew that if there was a next time, then there might not be anything left of Filch by the time Harry was done with him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Christmas**

The months had passed at Hogwarts, and Harry, along with his schoolmates had settled into third year. Harry and Hermione were learning lots of new material in their apprenticeships, and Harry often found himself helping the first and second years with their Transfiguration and Charms homework. Hermione was able to heal any minor cuts and bruises that he came back from training with, and the Quidditch team loved her new skills. Harry had progressed to three-quarters of the way through his third year material, and both Flitwick and McGonagall had said that he could start fourth year work around the end of the year, and continue it during the summer. Harry had also managed to win a duel against Kiara, by using a combination of the Force, Transfiguration and Charms, to leave his Master hanging from the ceiling, with her lightsaber stuck to the floor with a Sticking charm. He had also, much to his master's disgust, Transfigured said lightsaber into a garden hose that squirted her with water and bubble bath soap every time she attempted to free herself. When McGonagall and Flitwick came looking for him and saw the results, they fell over laughing and Flitwick promptly took several pictures with a camera. After that the Transfiguration and Charms were undone and Kiara landed on the floor, on her feet. She was quite graceful about the loss and hinted that next time she would really be upping the fighting level. Harry merely grinned back before going to shower.

The Hogsmeade weekend right before Christmas was busy. Students crowded the shops searching for presents for their families. Harry had gone down to Hogsmeade a couple of weekends before, so he only had to buy a few more gifts. He looked around before finding a statue of a wolf, dog and stag together. He smiled and bought it, thinking that it would make a nice gift for Sirius. He then spotted a book in one of the shops and snorted. The title was "What to do when a Sith is taking over your galaxy." He promptly bought it for Kiara. A gift for Flitwick and then he was set. He then ran back to the castle, viewing it as exercise. Breathing deeply as he ran, he went over in his mind the plan for that night. He had planned a wonderful Christmas present for Hermione. The gift he'd given her for her birthday had been a necklace with her birthstone on it. This gift was going to be personal. He had finally got permission from Kiara to ask Hermione to be his girlfriend. Hermione's parents had agreed months ago, but suggested that he do it at Christmas. Kiara had also agreed to let him make it official at Christmas. Harry opened his eyes, which he had closed for a moment, and smiled. It had begun to snow.

Later that day, Harry began preparations. Hermione was very curious to know what was going on but he wanted it to be a surprise. Most of the other students had gone home for the holiday, so Harry had no trouble finding the perfect spot, up on the Astronomy Tower. He had exchanged gifts with all the people he had bought them for earlier, and was delighting in the fact that Sirius was able to spend Christmas with them. He had also nearly gone mad with delight over the Firebolt that Sirius had got him, as a way of making up for the first twelve years of missed presents. Kiara had rolled her eyes and told him to be careful.

McGonagall and Flitwick had also given him gifts. Flitwick had given him a set of updating books on useful charms and McGonagall had given him a chess set with the Light and Dark sides in place of the usual pieces. For the Dark there was Voldemort as King, Nagini (his snake) as Queen, the Basilisks as the Rooks, and Dementors as the Bishops. Knights were Dragons and the Death Eaters were pawns. For the Light, there was Dumbledore as King, Harry as Queen, Kiara and McGonagall as Bishops, Flitwick and Snape as Rooks. Knights were Hermione and Ginny and the pawns were various people.

Harry had thanked them both, and was shocked when they went to Kiara and then all stepped towards him.

"Harry, we want to acknowledge the fact that you've worked extremely hard to master everything we've taught you so far. As such, we will teach you the appropriate material and then give you the end of year tests early. You are already three-quarters of the way through third year work, you only need a little more and then you'll be ready for fourth year." McGonagall spoke softly through this, and Flitwick nodded his agreement when Harry looked at him in shock. He then turned questioning eyes to Kiara and received a burst of love and pride through their bond before she too, began to speak.

"Harry, those tests you went through the other day with me, they weren't just ordinary tests. They were the tests designed to see if you were ready for the next level of your Jedi training. You passed with flying colours. I'm proud to announce that you now are ready to move up to learning the advanced lightsaber katas, and also start the diplomacy and ethics courses. You learnt the basics of those with me the last few years and now you're ready for the hard stuff. Well done." After that speech was over, she leant forward, unraveled his braid slightly and wove a green coloured band into the braid as she rebraided it. Harry looked at all three of his Masters, with tears rapidly filling his eyes. He couldn't believe it. Not only had he achieved a level of knowledge of the Jedi that he had been told he wouldn't reach until he was fifteen, two years early, but he was also advancing faster than he thought possible in his other apprenticeships. He suddenly realised that he had been learning the material faster, and easier over the course of the last few months and wondered why. He pushed that question to the back of his mind; he could ask that after Christmas. Right now he had a huge thank you to do.

Leaning forward, he engulfed his three mentors in a hug so tight they thought they might die of suffocation. Flitwick was literally lifted off his feet by the force of the hug, but found himself levitating in mid air, thanks to Harry. They didn't mind though, and hugged him back, very pleased that he was so happy. Kiara in particular was surprised by the level he had achieved, she had also noticed the ease with which he picked things up now. She knew she'd made the right decision by elevating Harry to the next level; she was just saddened slightly, as it meant that if Harry kept this rate of learning up, then he just might make Knighthood by eighteen rather than twenty or twenty-five and that meant less time with him. She wiped her eyes, annoyed that she'd started to mourn the loss when she still had at least five or so years with her Padawan left.

'Not to mention' she thought to herself, 'that he'll still want to see me even when he's not my apprentice anymore. I'm still his mother. Oh dear'.

Harry let them go when he heard the clock start chiming. With a muttered "Oh damn, I'm going to be late," he dashed out of the room. Kiara, Minerva and Filius watched him go, before settling down to enjoy their own gifts from him. Kiara in particular kept reading little snippets of her book aloud, and enjoying the responses. One snippet in particular, rang very true to Kiara.

"If you are a Jedi, do not take orders from the Senate. More than likely, the orders are a ruse by the Sith to keep you busy elsewhere so he can undermine you at home."

While this was going on, Harry had dashed up to the Astronomy Tower, where Hermione was waiting. He had used the Force to calm himself so he wasn't out of breath when he arrived, but he was slightly breathless anyway when he saw her. He gulped and then moved forward.

"Hermione, I asked both your parents and Master Lyn if I could go ahead with my Christmas present to you," he began nervously. "I love you with all heart, and always have done, ever since we met in first year on the train. I know that unofficially our relationship is that of boyfriend and girlfriend, but I want to make it official." Harry then drew a deep breath, before taking her hand in his.

"Hermione Jane Granger, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, as the snow started falling lightly around them.

Hermione shook, tears of happiness running down her face. Grasping Harry's hand tightly she kissed him, before whispering "Yes," in his ear. Harry smiled in relief before opening the small box he'd brought with him. Hermione looked at it and smiled.

"Jet are you asking me to be your girlfriend, or your wife?" she asked.

Harry looked at her, confused. "Tawny, this ring is a promise ring. With it, it states that I have given my heart to you, and no one else, and it also says that I promise to marry you one day. It's the first in a series of three rings I found in my vault one day. The engagement ring goes on after this one when I ask you, and then the wedding one. When all three are on your finger, they will meld together and not come off until you die. Of course, you can remove this ring if we don't work out, but I do love you, and I won't ever stop loving you."

Harry stopped speaking as he felt he was making a fool of himself. Hermione on the other hand, leaned in and kissed him again. They then made their way down from the Tower, and back to the Great Hall where the Christmas Feast awaited them. When they walked in, they saw their assorted family members waiting for them. The rest of the Gryffindor students that had stayed promptly started cheering, and Harry looked up to find Kiara, McGonagall and Flitwick all smiling at him. He was shocked to see Sheryl and David there as well, but then grinned. Hermione was proudly showing them the ring he'd given her. He looked towards his mentors again to see them missing. He felt a touch on his shoulder and turned to see James, Lily, Anakin and Obi-Wan all behind him. They were all smiling, and Lily had tears streaming down her face when she hugged him and whispered, "Well done," in his ear. James also hugged him, and Obi-Wan and Anakin nodded soberly to him. Behind Anakin, Harry thought he saw a glimpse of a woman with dark hair. He realised that this must be Padme Amidala, Anakin's wife. His suspicion was proven correct when she stepped forward and told him softly not to lose Hermione, and to be careful regarding his feelings for her. After solemnly promising not to lose his girlfriend and soulmate, the four ghosts disappeared.

Harry turned back and sat down at the table, along with everyone else. Sirius had joined them and there was a lot of good natured grumbling at the Minister for being an idiot – good natured only because it was Christmas and no one wanted to spoil it with anger or other negative emotion. Harry found himself in a civil conversation with Snape, who soon got him started on explaining the differences in various potions. Harry then asked about another series of Potions, and what they'd be doing in the coming months. The rest of the staff was stunned. Kiara had an odd feeling about Snape, something Dark lingered around him but she didn't know what. She shrugged it off, willing to trust Harry's judgment of Snape's character. In later years she would regret this show of trust, but so would everyone else.

Later on, Harry was engaged in a chess game against McGonagall, and was winning. His training as a Jedi had given him a good ability to see the overall strategy and was able to be several steps ahead of his teacher. Finally the chessboard Harry knocked over Voldemort. The real Harry was startled to hear it say "The Light have won. Darth Voldemort is no more". He collapsed in laughter and when Flitwick walked in to see what the laughter was about, he too broke into giggles at the name "Darth Voldemort".

Harry spent the rest of the Christmas break just enjoying himself. Flitwick and McGonagall hadn't seen Star Wars before so the group consisting of the two professors, Kiara, Harry and Hermione all went to Sanctuary to watch the saga. Ginny came over as well and so did Ron, who stated that he'd been a real jerk to them and wanted to start over. In the spirit of Christmas, Harry and Hermione forgave him, and formed a tentative friendship, which deepened over the week, as Ron proved that there was more to him than just a bad temper. He also challenged Harry to a game or two of chess, and excitedly pronounced that Harry was one of the only Gryffindors that could give him a good challenge. He then played McGonagall and lost, spectacularly. Grinning, he said that he'd have to work on his game until he could beat her.

As the holiday was drawing to a close, the students and Professors went back to school. Kiara and Sirius stayed behind at Sanctuary, although Kiara did give Harry a lot of books on ethics and diplomacy, along with a list of when she expected certain sections to be done by. She also arranged times to visit Hogwarts and keep Harry up to date on his lightsaber skills, including sparring. Harry groaned good-naturedly, he knew that his workload would be picking up, as Flitwick and McGonagall would be teaching him the rest of the third year stuff and then getting him onto fourth year work.

Once back at school, Harry organised his schedule and arranged a couple of assignments that he'd finished before Christmas, on top of his books as he needed to hand those in the first day back. Smiling, he climbed into bed, falling asleep almost instantly. The next day, which was the first day of school after Christmas and New Year would be busy.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Stress and Exams**

Harry was stunned in both Transfiguration and Charms the next day, to find that his classmates were doing stuff that he had done a month or two ago. Shaking his head he got to work on his own assignments for the two classes, completing each just as the bell rang. After Transfiguration and Charms were over, he had a free period which he used to study, before heading to Divination. He had told McGonagall that if Trelawney predicted his death one more time he would drop the class. What had sounded interesting on paper was turning out to be downright boring and uninformative. Care of Magical Creatures was interesting, and Harry had made friends with the hippogriff that Hagrid had brought to class. The name of the creature was Buckbeak, and he was apparently as entranced by Harry as Harry was with him. Harry could often be found studying while curled up against Buckbeak, while the hippogriff would lie in the sun and occasionally turn his head so Harry could rub his beak, or stroke his head. The hippogriff would even go so far as to provide a sunshade for Harry with his wing which McGonagall found very amusing, although she didn't the first time she saw Harry with Buckbeak.

_Flashback: _

"_Harry where are you?" came McGonagall's voice. She had been searching for her apprentice for about ten minutes now, and wasn't very happy. _

_Harry looked up, he had forgotten that he had a meeting to discuss his current schedule. Swearing mentally he sat up, noticing that Buckbeak's wing was draped over him. Rubbing the creature gratefully he called out to his teacher. McGonagall almost had a heart attack when she saw Harry curled up against Buckbeak, but relaxed when she saw that the large creature wasn't hurting him. Shaking herself, she noticed Harry lean down, pick up the book he was studying from and come towards her at a jog._

"_Sorry Master, I was studying and lost track of time," he said._

"_That's fine, Mr. Potter, just keep an eye on your watch. Was that creature hurting you?" she enquired._

"_Buckbeak? No he wouldn't hurt me, we're friends. He lets me curl up against him when I study outside, it's very peaceful."_

_End flashback_

Harry grinned when he remembered this, now that McGonagall knew where he was likely to be, she always checked either the Den in Hogwarts, or outside with Buckbeak when he said he was going to study. Harry was starting to feel the strain of his class work though. He gladly dropped Divination at the end of the class, walking into McGonagall's office and stating that he wasn't taking Divination anymore. This lightened his workload somewhat, although, as the weather warmed up he found himself disinclined to study.

This caused him to receive a somewhat severe reprimand from Kiara when he forgot to do his Jedi ethics study for her and showed a rather sloppy style of lightsaber combat that, he was informed sternly, he'd have been ashamed to have shown at ten years old, much less thirteen. He had accepted the reprimand and worked harder after that, especially since he was told that in a couple of months he'd be introduced to sparring with the lightsabers set on a higher level, still not high enough to give severe wounds, but enough to give nasty burns on contact.

The strain was showing for all the students. The NEWT and OWL students were the worst off, and snapped at any younger students who were too loud in the common room, while Hermione was trying desperately to remember all her Ancient Runes and also look up information on healing. Her healing apprenticeship was going well, and she had gone to St Mungo's for the first time at Christmas. Now though, she was cramming information into her head desperately, as were the other third years.

Exams, while not directly on top of them, were still fairly close, and the two apprentices had always started studying early. Ron on the other hand was leaving it till the last minute, as he usually did. Hermione looked up one night and saw Ron playing chess while Harry had his nose in a book like hers was. She sighed. Ron had to be left alone; he wouldn't appreciate being nagged at to study. Shrugging she turned back to her own work.

Fred and George on the other hand looked very relaxed. Although they were OWL students this year, they had still found time to prank a few people. The Demons hadn't done very many pranks, mainly small ones and Fred and George were doing the bulk of them. Grinning they snuck up on Harry, or tried to, the moment they came near enough, Harry's hand shot out, and the twins felt the distinctive sensation of an invisible hand shoving them backwards. They landed in a pile of cushions on the other side of the common room and went off to find someone else to prank. Moments later a yelp from Ron told the other two Demons that Fleetfoot and Puck had struck again.

The last few weeks before exams passed quickly. Harry had taken his third year tests for Transfiguration and Charms already and was about an eighth of the way through fourth year work. Care of Magical Creatures wasn't that hard to study for, neither was Potions, but Arithmancy was difficult. Harry was hunched over a book in the Den desperately trying to remember how to work out a formula, when a hand gently took the book from him. He looked up tiredly to see Professor McGonagall looking down at him. Gently she helped him stand up, before steering him to their rooms, telling him in a soft voice that it was OK to study but he'd done enough tonight and that he was ready for the exams, whether he knew it or not. Harry was now too tired to protest so he allowed her to steer him to his bed, where he promptly fell asleep, not having the energy to change or anything. McGonagall smiled softly, really, Harry did do well, but this was getting out of hand. The exams were only a couple of days away and she felt sure that Harry needed a break. Quietly she transfigured his clothes into pajamas, and placed his lightsaber, which he was never without, by his bed. Then she left his room, and went to bed herself, after checking on the Gryffindors.

Harry woke up the next day to find his clothes by his bed, and a note from McGonagall informing him that since it was Saturday, he was not going to study. Instead, the note instructed him to get dressed and have breakfast and then follow the cat. Harry's brow furrowed slightly, _follow the cat?_ Shrugging, he obeyed, and then saw a beautiful silver cat waiting by the door. Smiling as he recognised the spell, he followed.

The cat lead him outdoors and down to the lake. He saw McGonagall and Flitwick both sitting on the grass, and they looked to be having some sort of contest. Flitwick looked up as he joined them.

"Ah Harry, sit down. Would you like to enter our contest?" he squeaked.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What type of contest, Master?" he asked respectfully.

McGonagall nudged him. "A levitation contest, we each have to levitate something, whether it be with our wands or without them, and see how long we can hold it." Harry grinned and agreed eagerly, already feeling relaxed and happy. He smiled when Flitwick levitated the large rock by the lakeside with his wand, and held it for a few minutes before letting it go. McGonagall then showed what she'd been learning from Kiara when she levitated the same rock with the Force and held it for about ten minutes. She was breathing rather heavily when she set it down but there was a challenging look on her face when she turned to him and said, "Can you beat that Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked at her and then said calmly "Just watch." At that, he levitated the rock, the giant squid and then froze the lake water and lifted that too. He held the lot for five minutes before putting it back down. Turning round, he found the two Professors staring at him in shock.

"Showoff," they chorused. Harry smirked.

The day was spent in idle lounging round. Harry went to bed that night, surprised that he hadn't done any study that day, yet felt better and more confident about the exams than he had all week. Smiling he went to sleep, determining that on Sunday he would have a brief review of all his subjects including Herbology, which he'd found easy so far, and then relax, ready for the exams to start on Monday.

Sunday went just as he'd planned, and he even got Hermione to lighten up on her own studying and gave his girlfriend a de-stresser as well. This one consisted of finding a nice spot under one of the trees and kissing her until she couldn't think of exams at all. They stopped when Neville Longbottom wandered by. Harry had been friendly with him for the past two years and had found the Boggart lesson with Professor Lupin in DADA to be his best class yet. He had been helping Neville with his confidence issues and it seemed to be working. Neville was much less shy and more willing to stand up for himself. He had even stood up to Professor Snape, and if the way the Professor acted afterwards was any indication, he was rather impressed as he didn't pick on Neville in Potions quite as much as he used to. He was still nasty towards them but the cruel edge appeared to have disappeared. Harry shook his head, and considered the fact that he had the good fortune to have the DADA exam first on Monday. It would be nice to have a good exam first up, it would raise his confidence.

He received a note that evening from Kiara, wishing him good luck for the exams and hinting at a test for him after the exams were over. He sent a message through their bond saying thanks and asking for a hint as to what the test was. All he got back was a feeling of amusement and a comment of **:wait and see:** Grumbling about cryptic masters he nonetheless went to sleep that night with a smile on his face as he dreamt about the possible ways that the DADA exam would be set up.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Exams Start**

Harry and the rest of the third year Gryffindors went down to breakfast that morning feeling somewhat ill. Ron was rather green as he'd left his studying till the last minute while Neville was having an attack of low self esteem and worrying that he couldn't do the tests. Harry shoved aside his own case of nerves to reassure Neville that he'd done fine in class and he'd be fine in the exam too. Neville appeared to calm down and relax after that.

"Take your own advice, Jet" Hermione's voice sounded in his head. Harry looked over at his girlfriend and smiled.

"This coming from the girl who was worried that she'd forget her translations for Ancient Runes," he teased back. Hermione smiled and smacked the back of his head. All too soon it was time to head out to the exam.

The Gryffindors were puzzled, the exam was outside and resembled more of an obstacle course than an exam. Professor Lupin stood at the start of the course and explained that grades would be given on how well the students dealt with each obstacle. Harry saw at the end of the course a box with a Boggart in it, judging from the shaking. He remembered that his Boggart was a Dementor. He had been puzzled by this as the Dementors wouldn't hurt him, until Remus had explained that he feared what the Dementors represented: fear. Harry, it turned out, was afraid of fear itself. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Harry watched his classmates go through the obstacle course. Ron did OK until the hinkypunk led him waist deep into a bog. Neville did fine and completed the course, stopping by Harry to say thank you before heading back to the castle. Hermione did well as well, until she came to the Boggart, which defeated her. Harry curiously asked her what it was and was told by a tearful Hermione that it was Professor McGonagall saying that she'd failed everything. Then it was Harry's turn.

The hinkypunk, he ignored. The grindylow found its arm broken before it had a good grip on him. The other obstacles fell victim to the various Defense spells he'd learnt over the year. Then it was the Boggart. He entered the trunk, and a Dementor promptly flew at him. Harry centered himself, drew on the happiest memory he could find, and cast the Patronus. The silver stag flew at the Dementor and drove it back. Harry turned and exited the trunk, pleased when Remus whispered that he had full marks on the exam. Not staying for the rest of the students, he went back to the castle for lunch before heading to the Care of Magical Creatures exam. This exam was very boring; take care of a Flobberworm for an hour. That done, he headed to the Den to get some study done before dinner.

After dinner, he had to calm down a frantic Hermione. Their Ancient Runes and Arithmancy tests were next day, as was Potions. Harry felt fairly confident about both but Hermione was panicking. Finally Harry dragged her to the Den and spent an hour or so snogging her to get her to calm down. By the end of it, he was out of breath but Hermione looked much calmer. Grinning, he pulled her to the staff room, where he enquired of Professor Flitwick as to whether he had any first or second year homework he needed marking. Flitwick raised his eyebrows; he had started Harry on marking the second years' homework a few weeks before. McGonagall had followed suit with Transfiguration.

"Don't you have study to do, Harry?" he asked.

Harry smiled. "Not really, Master, I've finished all the study I have to do for Potions and Arithmancy, and Herbology isn't until the day after that. History of Magic is on the same day as Herbology but I'm OK with that and I need a change of pace."

Flitwick shrugged before levitating a pile of papers over to his apprentice. Harry sat down next to him, pulled out a quill and a bottle of red ink and started marking. Hermione sat down next to Harry, pulled out a book on healing and continued from where she'd left off. Into this scene walked McGonagall, who took one look at what Harry was doing and gratefully dumped her own pile of first and second year Transfiguration assignments next to the pile of second year Charms assignments.

After an hour or so, Harry stretched and yawned, before capping his ink bottle, and picking up the papers, careful not to get them mixed up. He nodded to McGonagall and Flitwick, before walking to the Den, where he dropped off the papers. Walking back to his rooms, he kissed Hermione goodnight before going to sleep. He had decided to have an early night as he did need to concentrate in Potions and Arithmancy the next day.

Waking up the next morning, Harry swore. He'd overslept and now only had twenty minutes to get dressed, have breakfast and make it to his Arithmancy exam. Using every curse he knew he jumped into the shower, threw his clothes on, used a freshening charm on his robes, grabbed his lightsaber and flew down to breakfast, using the Force to enhance his speed. He reached the table, ate breakfast in five minutes and dashed to his exam. Racing in the door, he sat down, and sighed in relief when he realised that he still had three minutes to spare. After those three minutes were up the examiner called the start of the test. Harry flipped his paper over and began to answer the questions.

Two hours later he exited the room, tired and hungry. The exam had gone well, he thought, he had been able to answer all of the questions even if he wasn't too sure of some of the answers. He sat down at the Gryffindor table, beside Hermione who looked equally tired and frazzled. She smiled at him and asked how his Arithmancy went. He replied that it went fine and asked her how Ancient Runes went. She also replied that it was fine. There wasn't much talking after that as the Gryffindors were preparing to go to their Potions exam. Neville was working himself into a state again before Harry leaned over and quietly reminded him to breathe and let go of his fear. Neville did so and then they were off.

Potions went OK. Harry's potion was a little on the thick side but it at least was the right colour. Crabbe's potion had gone a sickly green when it was supposed to be sky blue. Hermione's looked perfect as usual and Ron and Neville's were somewhere in between. After the exam they headed upstairs for dinner. Hermione was thinking over her upcoming Muggle Studies exam, as she had that exam when Ron had Divination. Harry had dropped that class so he had a free day after the end of the Herbology exam which was the next day along with History of Magic.

The rest of the exams went well. Harry came out of History of Magic grumbling about stupid goblin rebellions and how he never wanted to hear of Urg the Unclean again. Hermione sighed, it was always this way, Harry hated History but he paid attention anyway. Ron came out of Divination grumbling about stupid crystal balls, and Harry looked down to hide his amusement, he knew there was a good reason why he'd dropped that class. Hermione came out of Muggle Studies looking very happy and Harry was pleased that at least he didn't get almost strangled in the Herbology exam like Malfoy did. Then again, when using the Force, it was easy to sense what the plants wanted and do it. Overall the exams went well, and when the results were posted the next week, Harry was pleased to see that he was ranked second in the year, just behind Hermione and just ahead of Malfoy. Ron was somewhere down the list in about fifteenth place among the third year students.

Harry threw down his quill and massaged his hand. He'd been working on the Charms/Transfiguration homework for two hours. 'How do they stand it' he thought. 'It's giving me cramps. I bet they like dumping two classes worth of homework on me just so they don't have to do it. What's next, have me mark third year homework next year as well?' A little voice that sounded remarkably like Kiara muttered "Well you did agree to this." Harry scowled, before realising that the little voice was correct. Sighing, he pushed the completed papers to one side, and stacked them so he could return them later that night.

He then got his book on ethics and diplomacy that Kiara had given him and worked on his notes for the section he had to do this month. He had actually finished it; he was just redoing parts of it. Having finished it for this month, he cheated, and started the next month's work as well. After completing his ethics study for the night, and finishing the grading for Transfiguration and Charms, he went to his training room, where he meditated for two hours, and then started working on the latest kata that Kiara had taught him. His master had been very patient when teaching him this kata as it required several complicated moves that needed to be taught in steps. It had taken several weeks to learn these moves alone and then to combine them with the rest of the kata. Harry had been incredibly pleased when Kiara had finally said that he could practice it on his own. The kata was soothing, even though it was more complex than the others he'd previously learnt. Harry let himself go and sank into the Force, losing himself in the movement, feeling his body flow smoothly from one movement to another, his lightsaber describing graceful arcs in the air as he slowed and increased his pace as the kata demanded. He stopped when he got tired and meditated again, pleased that his thoughts had slowed and were easier to sort and catalogue.

After doing his nightly ritual of sorting his thoughts, he went to bed, calm and happy. He had left the marked homework in the Den and would pick it up in the morning. He fell asleep idly wondering what this test that Kiara alluded to was, and when it would come.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: The Test**

Harry was somewhat worried the next day when he got up for his normal training session with Hermione and she didn't show up. He went through it anyway and returned to his room, dressing in his Jedi uniform that he'd been told to wear the night before. Shrugging at the odd request he attached his lightsaber to his belt, after carefully checking the power levels, and pulled his robe on over top. Clothing sorted he went down to breakfast.

Finishing breakfast, he was very surprised to see that neither Flitwick nor McGonagall were present. Hermione still hadn't showed up. He was just getting up to look for them when an owl swooped down and landed in front of him. He took the note it had tied to its leg and read it, freezing with shock.

_Potter_

_I have your girlfriend and mentors in the Room of Requirement. If you want them back you have to come get them yourself. Don't bother trying to contact Master Lyn; I've taken steps to ensure that she can't be contacted. Oh and do come alone._

The note wasn't signed, but Harry knew in his heart that it was true. He promptly dashed out of the hall and up to the seventh floor. One of the house elves had told him about this room, and he'd found it useful.

Racing up the stairs, Harry had time to come up with a plan. He wouldn't go running in blindly, he'd consider his options. He slowed his heart rate and fell into the Force. Opening his senses he sensed Darkness coming from the ROR as he called it. Walking slowly forward, he opened the door.

The ROR had been transformed into something resembling Star Wars, more particularly the planet Mustafar. Harry swallowed when he saw Hermione tied to a support above the lava. He then saw McGonagall and Flitwick standing off to the side, trapped behind a force shield. Frowning he scanned his surroundings, before turning round as he heard a dark chuckle.

Spinning round, Harry saw a black robed figure walking towards him, with a red lightsaber already lit. Harry ignited his own in reply and circled the Sith, for that was what Harry thought it was. He reached out and undid the force shield round his two mentors and then put himself between the stranger and them as they hurried over to stand by the door, out of harm's way.

Suddenly the Sith pulled Hermione towards itself, and locked an arm round her neck. Harry now recognised that he was in a hostage situation. He had to make the creature let Hermione go, but was wary of any tricks. He sighed.

"Let her go. You don't really want to do this," he called out.

The Sith laughed. "And what's in it for me if I do let her go. You'll kill me? I think not. No she's coming with me." The Sith then started to move towards the doorway, keeping Hermione between itself and Harry as a type of human shield. They were almost at the door, when Hermione acted, kicking the Sith in the shin, and then jabbing her elbow into its stomach. The Sith doubled over and Hermione, along with McGonagall and Flitwick fled the room. Harry was almost at the door as well when the Sith locked it. Harry watched warily, he was in real trouble now. Alone in a room with a Sith, and no way to call his master for help. Oh dear. Add to that a lot of lava beneath him and he was screwed. The young Jedi sank deeper into the Force asking for help. The Force soothed him and told him that everything would be OK. Determinedly, Harry opened his eyes and grasped his lightsaber handle tightly.

"What do you want?" he asked.

The Sith smirked. "Your death, Jedi," it hissed in reply.

"Why?"

"Because if I destroy you now you won't be a threat anymore."

"Why do you consider me a threat?"

"Because you're a Jedi. If you were to join me though, and give yourself to the Dark Side, you would be able to defeat Voldemort, and save your girlfriend."

Harry stilled. Save Hermione and defeat Voldemort? That was tempting. He then shook those thoughts out of his head.

"Tempting but I think I'll pass. You've been watching too much Star Wars if you think that proposal will sway me. You might be setting yourself up to play Emperor, but I won't be your Darth Vader."

**Outside in a special closed off room**

"How's he doing?" Hermione whispered.

Flitwick smiled at her. "Very well so far, he wavered slightly when Master Lyn said something about learning the Dark Side in order to save you and defeat Moldywart, but he's shaken that off now."

Hermione nodded, her eyes never leaving the scene in front of her.

**Back in the ROR**

"Foolish boy, I'm not talking about that. Join me and you will be able to use your power far more effectively than you could as a Jedi." The Sith was getting agitated at Harry's refusal to give himself over to the Dark Side. Harry shook his head firmly.

"No. No matter what you offer, I'll never betray my master like that. I will NEVER join the Dark Side. Apart from the betrayal issue it gives you horrible skin conditions," he said flippantly. The Sith snarled in rage and attacked.

Harry backflipped away from the Sith's charge. He blocked an overhead strike, and then swiftly sidestepped a diagonal slash that would have opened him up from shoulder to hip. He jumped a slash at his ankles before connecting with the Sith's shoulder. It was a glancing blow but it still hurt if the growl of pain was anything to go by. Harry let himself go and opened himself fully to the Force, finding that he was, in an odd way, enjoying the all out fight. The lightsabers were set on full power but Harry had been sparring with Kiara for a couple of months now with the lightsabers set on three-quarter power so this wasn't much of step up. Still he found himself glad of the intensive training he'd been put through. On impulse he drew his wand and attempted to Transfigure the blade of the Sith's lightsaber. It didn't work and the next second, his wand was wrenched out of his hand. The fight continued, back and forth, until Harry was kicked in the chest and fell over the railing, landing on another catwalk below. He caught his breath briefly before looking round for his enemy.

HISSSSS. The red blade whizzed by Harry's head as he ducked just in time. He cursed himself for not thinking to look up, and then sank into the fight again.

**Outside the room**

Hermione, Flitwick and McGonagall were watching the fight, impressed.

"He fights well," McGonagall observed. Flitwick and Hermione nodded, only to spin round when another voice offered an opinion.

"And he wasn't fooled by the promise of being able to save Hermione by using the Dark Side, as I was," Anakin said, concentrating on the battle. "Does Harry know who he's fighting?" Heads were shaken at him. "Hmm, and I suppose that the blades aren't on full power in reality?" He was shocked to see nods.

"OK, I hope she knows what she's doing. Lily's going frantic up there, worried that her precious baby will lose an arm, or his head. The Council is intrigued by this test and are more worried about _Kiara_ losing a limb or two as it would quite likely devastate Harry. Oh well, I'm off."

Anakin disappeared, leaving the two witches and one wizard to silently watch the fight between master and padawan, even though the padawan didn't know who he was fighting.

**Inside the room**

Harry finally got lucky, and managed to disarm his opponent, (not literally). He held the two lightsabers in his hands, and walked towards the Sith, who had sunk down onto the catwalk, exhausted. Standing above his opponent, Harry brought the two blades, one red and one green down to either side of her neck. Now that Harry was close enough, he was able to identify that his opponent was female. He brought the blades closer still, wanting nothing more than to make sure that this _person_ couldn't harm his family or friends again. He was surprised when the Sith chuckled.

"Going to kill me are you?" she asked. Harry tightened his grip on the two swords and didn't answer. In his head though, he had to sort out a rather major problem.

'If I kill her now, it would be murder. She's unarmed, and even if she is a Darksider that doesn't mean I can kill her in cold blood. Yet, I can't allow her to get away. Oh what do I do?'

Finally Harry lowered the blades, though he kept them ready to move if the Sith showed any signs of trying to escape. He then retrieved his wand and conjured a pair of handcuffs and used to Force to knock out the Sith. That done he levitated her, and made his way over to the door, fully intending to call Kiara and have her deal with it. When he got to the door though, it swung open to reveal Hermione, McGonagall, Flitwick, Anakin, Obi-Wan and a little green creature that Harry recognised as Yoda. He stepped into the little room and only then noticed the window into the ROR that they'd been watching through. He dropped his captive to the floor in shock, and turned to Obi-Wan with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Yes, Harry this was the test that Kiara told you about. You passed. You kept your head and fought only when you had to, and didn't give in to temptation. You also proved yourself to be honorable when you didn't kill your opponent when she was unarmed and helpless despite the fact that she'd held your girlfriend and mentors captive."

"A good Jedi you are," Yoda broke in. "Strong in the Force, yet much control you have. Trained you well, your master has."

Harry could only nod his head in acknowledgement of the Jedi Masters' words. He then remembered something.

"Hang on, if you lot are here, where's Kiara? Where's my master?"

He was cut off by a chuckle from Anakin. "Padawan, I suggest you have a closer look at that Sith you captured." Harry turned round to see Flitwick and McGonagall taking off the charms and transfigurations that had made the Sith so terrifying. Once undone, they revealed an exhausted Kiara. Harry stared in shock, and then looked at the lightsaber settings in horror.

"Master I could have killed you!" he said in shock.

Kiara shook her head. "No you wouldn't have. The room was set so that if you had tried to decapitate me the blades would have short circuited when they touched my throat. As for the fight, I knew that I had enough control to not wound you seriously, and from the mock fights we've been having the last few months, I knew that you'd developed enough control so that I would be able to dodge any accurate and lethal attacks."

"The test was set up to mimic a real situation, yet be as safe as possible. I'm very proud of you. You not only passed, but you also managed to beat me in an all out duel and exhaust me as well. The only other people who could lay claim to that are now dead, and standing behind you."

Kiara got to her feet with a groan, and then had to sit down as her knees gave way beneath her. Harry promptly forgot everything else and summoned Poppy. Ten minutes later, Kiara was lying in the hospital wing with the wound that she'd sustained from Harry's blade washed and then healed, and a Pepper-Up potion had been all but shoved down her throat by a still very anxious Harry. After that, Kiara was highly annoyed to learn that she wouldn't be allowed out of the Hospital Wing until the next morning. She scowled at that until Harry threatened to tie her to the bed to get her to stay. Everything else was forgotten as there were several gasps from the ghostly and living audience, and Kiara could do nothing but splutter in shock and glare at her padawan. She attempted to sit up so she could glare properly but the exhaustion from the duel got the better of her. Soon she gave up the fight and settled down to sleep.

The others all left with the exception of Harry, who sat by the bed much like Kiara had sat by his at times. Around lunchtime he left to get lunch and when he got back she was still asleep. He hugged her gently before leaving to work on his advanced Transfiguration and Charms work; he was now learning Switching spells in Transfiguration and the Accio charm in Charms. The Switching spell was elusive to him and the Accio charm needed some refining, no matter that he had learnt it in his first two years at Hogwarts. He was still keeping up with his goal of learning the spells and charms wordlessly and wandlessly, and did the same with DADA.

Later that evening, Harry went to Remus' suite of rooms in the castle. Remus opened the door and greeted Harry warmly. The two had grown close over the year and Remus was Harry's contact person for Sirius. Remus had been the one to teach him the Patronus, and had also yelled at him (briefly) for wandering round after curfew once. He hadn't told Minerva, for which Harry was extremely thankful, but he had told Kiara and Sirius. Harry had received a very odd letter the day after which comprised of Kiara scolding him for breaking rules, and Sirius encouraging him. There were also a few places in the letter where it was obvious that Kiara had read what Sirius wrote because instead of scolding Harry, the letter changed to something along the lines of _Sirius! Don't encourage him!_ and then the handwriting would change back to Sirius' usually with a beginning comment of _OW! OK stop hitting me!_ Harry had laughed at this, but hadn't gone wandering round after curfew again.

The next night was a full moon and Harry and Hermione had promised to run with Remus that night, along with Sirius. Plans however, have an annoying habit of going wrong and that night something would, forcing Harry to defend himself against a raving mad werewolf.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Werewolf Problems**

The day after the test was a full moon. Kiara had recovered from the exhaustion and wished Harry well for the night run. She wouldn't accompany them as she wanted to plan Harry's summer schedule. Harry hugged her before going outside with Remus and Hermione. Sirius was waiting outside the Shrieking Shack for them. Harry had been hit by a spell that day in DADA but since it didn't appear to do any damage he had shrugged it off and forgotten about it.

The moon rose and Hermione and Sirius transformed as Remus did. Harry also tried to transform, and now he found out that the spell had indeed done something, it had bound his animagus ability! He couldn't transform. Then he heard the worst piece of news yet.

**: Padawan, Remus forgot to take his potion. He's not safe. Transform and come back to the castle, let Sirius handle Moony tonight:**

**: I can't, Master, Hermione's transformed and so has Sirius but that spell I was hit with today, it's bound my animagus power. I can't transform:** Harry was now close to panicking, he knew that an out of control werewolf could kill him, no matter what his skills were. He turned back to the situation to hear a growl from Moony.

**: Master come help, Moony's got my scent and Sirius and Hermione won't be able to stop him: **he sent through the bond. He heard a brief **: Oh shit, I'm on the way, just hold on and don't let him bite you:** before Kiara cut the connection. Harry pulled his wand and dodged the first attack from the werewolf.

Tawny jumped in front of him, only to be sent crashing to the ground by Moony. Sirius met the same fate. Moony then turned his attention fully on Harry, and sprang at him, only to be brought to the ground by Shadow, who had arrived seconds before. Harry watched in fascination as Shadow and Moony fought. When Shadow was thrown against a rock though, Harry knew that unless he did something, he was either going to end up dead, or a werewolf himself, and if either of those two things happened then Remus would be killed. He aimed his wand at the wolf, and waited.

"Stupefy," he said quietly but forcefully. Moony shook his head but came at him again. Harry cursed and then had an idea. 'Sorry, Remus' he said in his mind, before Transfiguring a six metre wide circle of grass around him into silver.

Moony landed on it and promptly leapt straight up into the air with a howl of pain. Harry levitated him with the Force, while he swiftly conjured an extremely strong muzzle and a titanium chain. He then levitated Moony over to a patch of grass and set him down. The werewolf shook its head and growled, but couldn't bite Harry due to the muzzle. Harry then enervated Padfoot, Tawny and Shadow and they came and lay down beside him.

Moony looked up after a while and whined slightly. Padfoot and Shadow growled at him, telling him off in canine language for attacking one of the pack's cubs. Moony then looked at Harry, who was holding the end of the chain, and whined, pulling slightly. Harry got the idea of what the wolf wanted and stood up.

Harry, followed by Padfoot, Shadow and Tawny, set off across the grounds, with Harry walking Moony on the makeshift leash. The werewolf was still dangerous but Harry transfigured a piece of wood into silver and every time Moony tried to lunge at him, he would tap the werewolf on the nose. After a few encounters like this, Moony subsided and allowed Harry to walk him. This continued until sunrise, when Moony changed back into Remus. They were inside the Shack, and Remus was quite confused to finding himself wearing a muzzle and leash.

"Er, can someone tell me what happened last night?" he asked tiredly.

Harry smirked. "Well, Uncle, you transformed but you'd forgotten the potion so you weren't safe. Sirius and Hermione tried to control you as I couldn't transform due to that spell I got hit with in DADA but they couldn't. You and my master fought when she arrived to protect me. You knocked her out and then advanced on me….."

Harry finished the story and at the end Remus was gaping at him in shock. "You mean to tell me that you _walked_ Moony on a _leash_ and not only that but you _muzzled _him as well?" Harry nodded and then inspected the burns on Remus' nose, hands and feet due to the silver. Remus shrugged him off saying that he would be fine. He then flopped to the floor with a groan, and submitted to being levitated to the Hospital Wing so that Madam Pomfrey could treat the burns. Sirius, Hermione and Kiara were also treated for the various gashes and wounds they'd suffered while trying to control Moony during the night.

The doors to the Hospital Wing then burst open. McGonagall stalked down the aisle, coming to a stop in front of Harry's bed. She was annoyed that Harry had risked his life like that and was also shocked to hear how he'd dealt with the situation. She did admire his cool headedness though, and admitted that the transfiguration was good. Kiara cut off her lecture by tiredly stating that none of them could have helped Harry as they were knocked out so he did what he had to. This took the wind out of McGonagall's sails somewhat and she calmed down.

The rest of the day was spent recovering. They were all fully recovered by evening which was a good thing as the Ministry chose that moment to make an entrance.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Ministry Problems**

CRASH! The doors to the Hospital Wing flew open and in walked Minister Fudge, with an entourage of sycophants. Behind the party, and walking in a manner that suggested to Harry that they were trying very hard to avoid association with the Ministry, were Amelia Bones and two Aurors that Harry had met before, Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt. The two groups came to a halt in front of the occupied beds.

"We have Sirius Black at last," Fudge proclaimed. "Sirius Orion Black, for your crime of murdering twelve muggles along with Peter Pettigrew, and the additional crime of escaping from Azkaban Prison, I hereby sentence you to the Dementor's Kiss, to be performed immediately."

To Harry's horror, a Dementor floated up behind Fudge and started to bend down to his godfather. While the Aurors and Director Bones were busy yelling at Fudge, Harry got up out of bed, and placed himself between Sirius and the Dementor.

"NO," he yelled, "You promised that he wouldn't be hurt. You promised that no one on Hogwarts grounds, or anyone under my protection would be hurt. You promised not to hurt my father!" The audience noted, although Harry didn't, that he'd referred to Sirius as his father and not his godfather. The Dementor pulled back slightly.

&Young Jedi, I cannot disobey orders. Move out of the way. I will not hurt your father. I can make it appear that he has been Kissed when he won't have been. Tell your father to act as though he has been Kissed. I promise you, no harm will come to him&.

Harry moved out of the way, explaining the situation quickly to Sirius and Kiara. They agreed to the Dementor's plan, even though Sirius was somewhat doubtful. Harry then shifted back to his bed and watched with tears streaming down his face, (and he wasn't acting) as the Dementor Kissed his godfather. He was only peripherally aware of Minerva, Filius and Kiara wrapping their arms round him, and he buried his head in Kiara's shoulder to stifle the sobs that were working free of his throat.

Minerva wasn't any better, and turned to glare at the Minister, as did Lily and James Potter who appeared when they felt Harry's distress. They didn't know of the plan, of course, so their grief was genuine. Amelia and the Aurors promptly stepped forward and arrested the Minister for having the Kiss performed on an innocent man. As soon as the Dementor had floated back, Harry pulled free of his mentors and ran to Sirius, checking for any sign of life. Sirius' eyes were blank, but Harry saw a well-concealed spark of life, and he almost fainted with relief.

**: It worked, Master, he isn't soulless. The plan worked:**

**: Good. Step back so I can hug him as well:**

Harry stepped back and allowed Kiara to hug Sirius. He was then further gently pushed back as Minerva hugged her former student tightly; Kiara had quietly explained what had happened while everyone else's attention was on the Dementor and Harry.

"What do you think you're doing?" came the outraged voice from the Minister. Harry, Kiara, Flitwick and McGonagall looked over to see Fudge struggling in the grip of Tonks and Shacklebolt, both of whom looked very upset at the Minister's orders.

"We are following the orders of our Director, Minister," Shacklebolt said calmly. "Mr. Black was declared innocent several months ago, indeed, he was declared innocent at the start of the year, but you refused to believe it. We have Peter Pettigrew in custody and he' been dosed with Veritaserum. You just gave an innocent man the worst punishment he could have ever received, and deprived Harry Potter of his godfather."

Tonks chimed in with "Not to mention destroyed the last of the most Noble and Ancient House of Black. Harry is Sirius' legal Heir, and as such has control of the family fortune. He is also my cousin, as Sirius was my cousin as well."

Harry looked up startled, he hadn't known that bit. He was sitting by Sirius, still giving the outward appearance of being upset. Inside though, he was searching for his godfather's soul, and, having found it, was conversing silently with him. Sirius was watching the proceedings with interest and then suggested a prank. Once it was explained to him, Harry agreed and then mentally warned Kiara of what was happening.

With a very theatrical groan Sirius sat up. He looked around at all the upset and shocked faces and grinned.

"Miss me?" he said.

Tonks was the first to move. "You prat!" she shrieked, racing forwards, only to stumble as she hit the edge of the bed. "You complete prat. How did you survive the Kiss?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," Amelia Bones said weakly. Everyone present, even the ghostly forms of James and Lily nodded in shock. Sirius grinned.

"It's all thanks to Harry here. This Dementor that so kindly Kissed me is a friend of his, and apparently made it look as though I'd been Kissed, when I wasn't. He Kissed me, but didn't suck my soul out. All I had to do was make it appear as though I was soulless. It worked, didn't it." Sirius looked round and grinned at all the opened mouths. Suddenly James started laughing.

"That has got to be your best prank yet, Padfoot," he chuckled.

Sirius looked pleased. "Why thank you Prongs, although I won't be repeating it." Everyone chuckled at their antics, and Amelia nodded before leaving with the Aurors and the Minister in custody. He was still complaining about being under arrest until being told quite sharply that if it hadn't been for the Dementor being friends with Harry, Sirius would have lost his soul and therefore the charge of ordering the Kiss be given to an innocent man still applied.

Now the only people left in the Hospital Wing were Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Harry, McGonagall, Flitwick and Poppy. The rest of the Ministry entourage had left earlier. Sirius then smacked his forehead.

"Prongs, you want to know a really good prank that your son played on me and the rest of the Marauders," he said. James nodded.

"He became an illegal animagus at age eleven," Sirius said mournfully. James and Lily looked at Harry, stunned. Harry hadn't told them this, and hadn't showed them. Sighing, Harry explained the situation, and while James looked shocked at the idea of being upstaged by his son, Lily told off McGonagall for teaching him. Then Harry and Hermione showed their forms of Jet and Tawny. Upon seeing them, though, Lily fell in love with them, and hugged them both.

Harry then related how he, Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Kiara ended up in the Hospital Wing in the first place. James fell over laughing at the idea of Harry taking a werewolf for a walk on a leash, while Lily looked horrified. After everything had been explained, the group mutually decided to have a late dinner and then head for bed. The Ministry fiasco had left them all tired, and wanting to sleep. Kiara, McGonagall and Flitwick left the infirmary, to organise dinner. James and Lily faded back into the Force. Remus and Sirius settled back into bed. Harry on the other hand, sought out his Dementor friend. As the two Marauders watched in fascination, Harry talked with the floating creature.

"Thank you for not hurting my father," Harry said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you."

The Dementor turned to him. &It is not your fault young Jedi.& it said. &Most people fear our Kiss, and for good reason. You did trust me, by standing aside and letting me do what I needed to. I will probably not see you again, but I will spread word to every Dementor in Britain, that you and your family are not to be hurt. I cannot promise the safety of everyone in Britain, we do need to feed after all. You and your family though, will not be touched by us&

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully. Then, as Remus and Sirius watched silently, mouths hanging open, he leaned in and hugged the Dementor. More shockingly, the Dementor hugged him back. They separated and the Dementor floated off, presumably to inform its friends of the deal that had been made. Harry returned to his bed just as the three that had left returned, bearing trays of food and jugs of drink. Said food and drink almost ended on the floor when they were told what had happened but a lucky save by Harry stopped it.

After polishing off the food and drink, Sirius drank a lot of it as he said he needed to get the taste of Dementor out of his mouth, the group of 7 said their goodnights and made their respective ways to bed. Dumbledore came round later to check on the group in the infirmary, silently furious that his plan to get Sirius Kissed hadn't worked. He had to work out a way to get the Dementors off of Harry's side; this friendship was most unusual and worrying for him.

Unaware of the schemes swirling in Dumbledore's mind, Harry slept peacefully. Kiara caught a sense of the plans and frowned, automatically coming up with possible ways to neutralize Dumbledore before he got someone hurt or killed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: The End of the Year**

A few days after the Ministry visit, an official notice came out in the Daily Prophet, declaring Sirius Black innocent. Most people noticed that this was the second time this notice had been issued and were amused to realise that Fudge had been forced into making a public statement to the effect that he'd been wrong and his deepest apologies were extended to Sirius, for not believing the Aurors the first time.

The residents of Sanctuary had mixed reactions to this. Sirius was amused and annoyed, Kiara was just annoyed and said that it was about time Fudge acknowledged the truth, Harry was just happy that Sirius could walk down Diagon Alley without being arrested, while the others were caught somewhere in the middle.

School had ended a day after the visit from the Ministry, so Harry was lounging round the living room, cuddling Hermione and throwing things at Sirius when he made several suggestive comments about them. The lounging around was practically ordered by Kiara as she said that if he didn't get some time to himself, to relax, then he would soon get ahead of her lesson plans for him. Harry wasn't even allowed to look at his schoolbooks except for doing the summer homework. McGonagall and Flitwick had also given him a break, saying that he was now halfway through the fourth year work and he could start work on the second half a couple of weeks before going back to Hogwarts. The plan was to have him at least ending fourth year work near the start of the year, and then have him go through fifth year work during class. Of course, he would still be attending the extra lessons, where he would get further ahead, but he would slow the pace down a bit. The OWL exams had already been arranged, and he would join the fifth years for the OWL exams in Charms and Transfiguration at the end of next year. Harry could hardly wait.

"How is relaxing suiting you, Harry?" Fred asked from where he'd just Flooed in.

Harry looked up and smiled. "Very well thanks, Fleetfoot, how are the pranks going?"

Fred winked, looked round for any nearby adults (the only one present was Sirius and he loved pranks anyway), and then sat down.

"This is an order form for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," he whispered. "We've been working on this all year and developing new products this summer. Also, apparently Dad is getting tickets to the final of the Quidditch World Cup this summer. Want to come?"

Harry's eyes lit up and he said "Yes." Fred winked at him again before disappearing through the Floo. Harry sighed, before settling down with Hermione and falling into a doze, dreaming about all the things he was going to do that summer, the biggest of which would be the Quidditch World Cup.

The End


End file.
